A New Master's Quest
by HandsOfFate
Summary: This is the tale of a young man and his friends on their quest to become pokemon masters. It actually takes place in our world, or our world if it were inhabited by pokemon.
1. Chapter 1

Pokemon had always been around in my life even though I was never a trainer. My family had a growlithe when I was a kid. Once that pokemon had passed away, it had eventually been replaced with two small skitty. They weren't battling pokemon but more of family pets. They didn't live in poke balls either, spending pretty much all their time roaming around our house and fenced in backyard.

Some of my friends had pokemon but none of them were serious trainers. My best friend Dylan had had a magikarp for almost a decade now and had been gifted a totodile not all that long ago. Some of my other friends also had smaller pokemon that lived more as pets than battling partners. Not many serious trainers had emerged from Grand Rapids in recent years.

The lure of the pokemon battling team our high school was considering founding had pressed more of my friends to get pokemon but not me. Whenever I brought up the idea of me getting a pokemon, even paying for it completely myself, things became strange. My mom, normally talkative, wouldn't discuss it. She was adamant that I didn't need my own pokemon and that the skitty we had were plenty good. My dad just got real quiet whenever it came up. He always found something off in the distance to stare at or suddenly remembered that he had something to do.

That all changed when I graduated high school.

For a graduation present, my parents got me a laptop computer for the fall when I was heading off to the local community college which I was expecting. I had no real idea what I wanted to do in college but I was going to need a laptop eventually. The second present was a little more unexpected. It was wrapped inside a shoebox and I could hear something moving around when I shook it.

I tore it open to find two balls inside, half red and half white, with a small protruding button in the center where the two colored halves met. I knew them instantly as pokeballs. I slowly pulled them out, each about the size of a baseball in my hands. Blinking a few times, I looked up at my parents. "Are these what they think they are?"

My dad nodded with a smile. "They're all yours Tim."

I grabbed the two poke balls and pressed the center buttons. They popped open an a white energy flowed out of them. It splashed onto the floor and formed into two pokemon, one from each ball. The first was a orange lizard, with short three-clawed arms, bright blue eyes and a flame on its tail. The second was about half the size as the first. It was a small green lizard with a pinkish underbelly, yellow eyes and a thick tail that looked like a leaf.

I may have never have had pokemon of my own but I knew a lot about pokemon and knew exactly which ones these were. "Charmander and Treecko!"

The two pokemon looked at each other and nodded, as if acknowledging that they were part of a team. For a moment, I wondered how they could possibly already know that but pokemon worked in mysterious ways.

"That's right guys," I grinned. "We're a team now."

I pointed their poke balls back at them and a beam of light shot out of the center button. When it touched them, their bodies converted back to energy and were pulled back inside the poke balls. I pressed the button and the balls shrank down to the size of a peach pit. I couldn't stop smiling as I kept staring at them.

After vigorously thanking my parents, I took off at a run to my friend Dylan's house. I almost bit it out of the sidewalk because I hadn't even taken the time to tie my shoes. After correcting that mistake, I was back huffing along at a decent pace. Or as decent of a pace as I got. I was really not much of a runner.

Dylan only lived around the corner and we had been good friends for a since elementary school. As far as my friends went, he was really the only one I ever talked pokemon with. He only had his magikarp and his new totodile but he was still pretty knowledgeable when it came to things. Dylan had never actually talked about going out into the world and being a trainer but he still had the Pokemon Trainer's Guide that all aspiring trainers read at the beginning of his career. I had actually borrowed it from him once if for no other reason than to live vicariously through the pages. I read the entire book cover to cover. Twice.

I rang his door bell as I bent over to catch my breath. Dylan's dad answered and gave me a quizzical look. He was a big man at almost six and a half feet tall and a rotund belly. Despite being well into his fifties, he still rocked his chest length beard from his days of driving a motorcycle cross-country.

"Hey Mr. Barnes," I gasped. "Is Dylan here?"

"Sure is Tim, want to come in?" he cocked a bushy eyebrow at me. "Maybe have a glass of water?"

I laughed and slipped in the door. I politely turned down his offer of water and walked down the hallway to Dylan's room after slipping off my shoes. Dylan swung around in his squeaky computer chair as he heard me coming.

He was much larger than me but not in a fat way. We were both a little over six feet tall but he was packed with a pretty decent amount of muscle from having been on the swim team since he was six years old. I, on the other hand, wasn't a scrawny geek… I was just long and thin. Not exactly flabby but not in really good shape. Brown hair was shared between us and despite his blue eyes and my brown eyes, we had been mistaken for brothers once before.

"Karp!" came a cry from his desk.

I glanced over at the large fish tank there to see Magikarp happily floating there in all its orange-scaled glory. It looked happy to see me as usual. Or maybe it was hungry. I had trouble telling the water pokemon's moods. Over on Dylan's bed sat a blue alligator pokemon about the size of my charmander. It too appeared happy but then again Totodile never really seemed to be unhappy.

"Hey Magikarp, Totodile," I said before turning to Dylan. "Dude! Guess what?"

"Did a bus of cheerleaders break down in front of your house or something?" Dylan guessed, his round face lighting up. "It's got to be something good since you seem to have run here. You never run if you can help it."

I reached into my pocket and fished out my two pokemon.

Dylan's eyes got huge. "No way!"

I tapped the button and the poke balls grew back to normal size. I tossed them onto the ground and after unleashing their inhabitants, they shot back into my hands where I shrank them back down.

"Dylan, Totodile, Magikarp, meet Charmander and Treecko," I introduced them.

"Charmander!" Charmander called as it waved an orange hand.

"Nice!" Dylan exclaimed. "Did you get them both or did you catch one?"

"My parents got them both for me," I answered as I watched Charmander climb onto Dylan's bed to converse with Totodile, careful not to burn anything with its tail flame. I was glad that it was careful because my happy day could've turned sad really quickly if Charmander burned Dylan's house down.

"No nicknames for them?" Dylan asked.

I shrugged. "I'm bad with coming up with names. I'd name them something and then three weeks later I wouldn't like the names and want to change them. This seemed much easier."

"No offense to the two skitty you guys have but these two are way cooler," Dylan said. "Have you tried battling yet?"

I shook my head and laughed. "I've only had them for fifteen minutes or however long it took me to get here. We're still getting to know each other."

Dylan was silent for a moment and I could tell that he was thinking about something. I watched Treecko lean against the wall and try to look cool or maybe intimidating as I waited for Dylan to tell me what he was thinking. I was starting to get the feeling that each pokemon was going to have a fairly unique personality.

"I think we should do it," Dylan said suddenly.

I shot him a sideways look. "You've lost me already."

"I think we should take the Pokemon League Challenge."


	2. Chapter 2

I almost fell over. "What?"

"You know, beat the eight gym leaders and go take on the Pokemon League," Dylan explained. "I think we should do it."

"I know what the Challenge is." I held up my hands to slow him down. "I'm just… I just got my own pokemon and you think we should try to become Pokemon Masters?"

"Yes."

All the pokemon in the room had gone silent and were looking at us now.

"I don't know anything about battling!" I protested.

"Don't even try to tell me that you didn't battle your skitty against each other at least once," Dylan challenged me.

I turned slightly red. "How do you know about that?"

Dylan ignored my question. "I also remember you borrowing the 'Pokemon Trainer's Guide' from me a few years ago. I'm willing to bet you already know exactly what Treecko and Charmander are capable of."

I remained silent.

"I daresay you are as prepared, if not more, than most people who start out on the challenge."

The room was silent for a moment and I could feel the eyes of all the pokemon on me. I sat down on the bed. Charmander stood and moved to be next to me. I could tell that I had a loyal pokemon in the fire lizard.

"So you think that me getting pokemon for a graduation present is a sign we should start an epic journey across the country in hopes that we can become Pokemon Masters instead of going to college?" I said slowly.

Dylan leaned back and steepled his fingers. I could see the plotting going on behind his brown eyes.

"You don't think it's a sign?" he questioned.

"I'd say more of a coincidence."

"What if I could give you a better sign?"

I tilted my head and squinted at him. He obviously had a plan but I had no idea where he was going with it.

"I'm listening." I gritted my teeth.

Dylan reached behind him and grabbed a piece of paper from his desk. He held it up and I glanced at it. It appeared to be some kind of flier or entry form or something. I raised my eyebrows and waited for him to continue.

"There's a pokemon battle tournament being held this Saturday and Sunday up at the high school," my friend said as he shook the paper. "We're going to enter. If we do well, we take the Challenge."

I chewed on the inside of my cheek for a moment as I thought this over. This offer very clearly favored me. Having never officially battled besides with my family's skitty, the odds were very heavily against me.

"One of us has to win and the other has do well," I tried to bargain.

"Deal and in the second tournament, we just have to do well," Dylan agreed.

"Wait, second tournament?" I was lost again.

Dylan pointed at the paper. "Saturday is a one-on-one format tournament. On Sunday it's two-on-two so we could technically enter together."

He paused for a moment.

"I'm giving you huge odds against us which we're both aware. If we do it, you agree we take the Challenge?"

I couldn't answer immediately. I looked at Treecko. It gave me a confident nod. I turned to look at Chamander. It gave me a three-fingered thumbs up.

I extended my hand to Dylan. "Game on."

We shook on it.

"So… where do we go from here?" I asked.

"Well that's easy," Dylan replied as he read the form. "Trainers are allowed to use three pokemon in battle for this tournament instead of the standard six. We need to go catch some more pokemon."

I shoved my hand into my pocket and pulled out the two poke balls that my pokemon normally resided in. I gave Dylan a glance.

"I don't have any other poke balls," I said. "I can't catch anything."

"It's cool," Dylan waved me off. "I've got four so we can each catch two. Once we're on the road and making money, you can pay me back. Come on Magikarp."

Dylan had produced two poke balls and sucked his pokemon into them. I followed suit. I followed him to the front door and back outside.

"What did you mean 'making money'" I asked. "Who's going to be paying us?"

"You apparently skipped this chapter in the guide," Dylan sighed as he lead the way down the driveway. "When you defeat a trainer in a battle, that trainer is obligated to give you half the money they're carrying. The League instituted that rule a few years ago so trainers could have a source of income instead of having to save up a ton of money before taking the Challenge."

That seemed like it would be fairly hard to enforce to me. It also seemed like you could get around that by just not having any money on you. I assumed that there probably had to be way more to it than just that simple explanation. It was at that moment that I realized that I had no idea where we were going. So I asked.

"We're going to the park," Dylan answered. "I used to lifeguard there. I've seen at least a few pokemon wandering around in the woods back there. I bet we should be able to catch some."

As we rounded the corner and headed down the next street, I was beginning to wish that we had driven. My legs were starting to get tired. I decided that if nothing else, it would be good conditioning in the event we did take the challenge.

"I'm hoping you didn't skip the chapter on how to catch wild pokemon," Dylan wished aloud.

"Battle 'em, weaken 'em, and throw a poke ball," I responded with a little scorn in my voice. "I would like to point out that technically you haven't caught any pokemon either. You got both Totodile and Magikarp as gifts. Speaking of Magikarp, why'd you bring it? Not much good in a battle."

Dylan shrugged. "I've always got Magikarp with me. I've had it since I was like ten. Magikarp's been my best friend for years."

I couldn't really argue that and let the sounds of our feet on the pavement fill in the silence. We followed a tarred road down a steep hill and into the park that Dylan had talked about earlier. It was highlighted by a pool and a small playground but it was the large wooded area behind it that interested us.

"What kind of pokemon have you seen back there?" I asked as I rolled Charmander's poke ball around in my hand.

"Nothing that'd make this a highly sought after hunting grounds," Dylan admitted. "But you've got to start somewhere."

"That's true," I agreed. "We won't get far with two pokemon apiece."

"Won't get far?" Dylan repeated. "Have you already accepted our fate to take the challenge?"

"Hardly," I scoffed as we crossed the open field to the woods. "I just know that we can't be trainers without lots of pokemon."


	3. Chapter 3

The woods were a heavily treed area. They weren't big trees but there were a lot of them. A light grass was spread between the trees. A large pond lay about forty yards from the edge of the woods where we stood. There definitely looked like there was life in these woods, we just couldn't see it yet.

"Call it in the air," Dylan said as he dug a coin out of his pocket. "Winner gets to catch the first pokemon we see."

"Heads."

He flipped it and caught the coin in his right hand then slapped it down on his left.

"Well crap. Tails finally failed. You get first pokemon."

Dylan handed me an empty poke ball and I took the lead. We weaved in between a patch of trees and made our way towards the pond. We followed the edge of the pond around to the other side and deeper into the woods. I turned to ask Dylan where he thought might be a good place to look when I saw it.

It was maybe a foot tall. It had large ears and covered in a yellow fur. There was black fur on the edges of its ears and on it's short arched tail. A red circle rested on each cheek below big black eyes. I pointed towards it and Dylan turned to look.

"Am I seeing things or is that a pichu?" I asked.

Dylan's head dropped low as his eyes got big. "I had no idea that they lived in these woods!"

Not wasting any time, I reached into my pocket and pulled out Charmander. I threw the ball into the space between the pichu and I and Charmander flashed into being.

"Here we go Charmander!" I called. "Scratch attack!"

Charmander rushed at the small mouse pokemon, claws bared. The pichu was saw Charmander coming but couldn't get out of the way as Charmander raked its claws across its fur. The pichu was knocked back off its feet.

"Ember!" I commanded.

Chamander swung its tail flame toward the pichu and a series of small embers flew out. They hit the pichu just as it got to its feet, knocking it down again.

I watched the pichu try and climb back to its feet but was having trouble getting all the way up. Tightening my grip on the empty poke ball, I hurled it towards the pichu. It struck the weakened pokemon in the head, popped open and sucked the wild pokemon inside.

I approached the ball slowly. It still twitched and the center button was glowing red. All movement suddenly stopped and the light faded. With a satisfied smile, I picked up the ball.

"Not too shabby, wouldn't you say?" I smugly asked Dylan.

"I have to admit, I'm impressed," Dylan sighed. "You and Charmander make a pretty solid team."

"I hear that," I agreed and pointed Charmander's poke ball at it. "Charmander, return."

The light shot out and pulled the fire lizard back into the poke ball. I shrunk both balls down and dumped them into my pocket.

"We need to get you a belt holster," Dylan noted. "That way you won't have to fumble around in your pockets for pokemon."

"Probably make things easier," I shrugged. "We should go get one after we're done here. I vote we go get a car if we do."

"I'm ok with that. I'm going to be tired at the rate we're seeing pokemon."

We continued to creep around in the woods for a while, still not seeing anything. Circling back towards the pond, Dylan stuck his right arm out to stop me. I looked at him eyebrows raised. Using his left arm, he pointed ahead at the pond.

Getting a drink was a small furry pokemon. It had spiky fur that alternated rings of brown and white up its body. A patch of black fur surrounded its eyes like a mask. It wagged it's bushy tail as it started backing away on all fours from the pond.

"What's that?" I whispered.

"Zigzagoon," Dylan answered as he plucked a poke ball from his belt holster. "And it's about to be all mine. Go Totodile!"

The alligator pokemon exploded out of the poke ball and rushed towards the wild pokemon. The zigzagoon turned to face the oncoming attacker and began to growl.

"Use water gun!" Dylan ordered.

Totodile responded by rearing it's head back and then thrusting it forward, firing a constant stream of water from it's mouth with a gurgling noise. The blast caught the zigzagoon right in the face and knocking it off it's feet. Ceasing it's water gun, Totodile continued it's charge towards it's opponent.

"Scratch!" Dylan shouted.

Totodile's scratch attack barely hit it's mark as the zigzagoon was rolling out of the way. It then sprang off it's back legs and knocked Dylan's pokemon back with a tackle attack.

"Stronger than I thought," Dylan muttered mostly to himself. "Water gun again!"

Totodile blasted the zigzagoon again. This time the force of the stream threw the wild pokemon into a tree. Dylan saw his opening and threw an empty poke ball.

The ball sucked the zigzagoon inside and shook violently for a moment before going still. Dylan walked over and plucked it off the ground.

"Not too shabby, if I do say so myself," Dylan smirked back at me as he drew Totodile back into a poke ball.

"Yeah, yeah." I waved him off. "I would just like to say that your pokemon got hit during battle while Charmander had a flawless victory."

"That's only because that pichu never saw you coming. Zigzagoon saw Totodile coming otherwise it would've been the same result."

"Fine," I sniffed. "I'm just stealthier than you."

Dylan laughed. "Whatever helps you sleep at night. Come on, let's see what else we can find."

We trekked a bit deeper into the woods leaving the pond behind. Pausing every once in a while, we could hear something moving but we couldn't ever figure out where. I shot Dylan a worried look and he shrugged in return.

"I can't imagine anything too threatening out here." I noticed that he was whispering. "Or at least nothing we can't take care of."

I was about to say something when out of the corner of my eye I saw something black dart past. I swung around and pointed but there was nothing there. My peripherals saw something else but by the time I turned, it was gone.

"I think something's hunting us." I had to try and keep my voice from trembling.

"Head back to the park," Dylan hissed. "It's the fastest way out."

Moving at a slightly faster walk to not arouse suspicion, we headed back the way we came. Our pace slowly picked up more and more until we were almost jogging. Then we screeched to a halt.

Standing in our path was a four-legged pokemon covered in black fur. The big ears or red eyes didn't bother me but the mouthful of big sharp teeth did. It shifted it's weight and lowered it's head slightly, looking as if it was poised to attack.

I glanced behind me to see if there was room to run but instead I saw another of the same pokemon, also looking like it was going to attack.

"What are these?" I asked, not sure if I really wanted the answer.

"I don't know and I'd rather not find out," Dylan answered. "On the count of three, we run left."

He never got to count. The pokemon in front of us took a swipe at me. I lunged out of the way and into Dylan. My head hit his hip and we tumbled down, in the process dislodging one of the poke balls on his hip holster. It rolled out in between the two wild pokemon and released it's contents.

"Magikarp! No!" Dylan yelled from his seat on the ground.

We were to frightened to even try to battle. I was sure both us and Magikarp were about to be done for.

I was wrong.

As the wild pokemon ignored Magikarp and tried to step over it to get to us, the water pokemon started to glow. The two wild pokemon backed up a few steps and exchanged a look. Magikarp's body now appeared to be white light. Then it began to change.

Magikarp suddenly sprouted into the sky, more than fifteen feet. It also grew thicker all around and it's head grew wider and longer. Something began to appear on it's back. The light faded and what stood before us was definitely not Magikarp. It's body was long like a serpent's with a wide fish-like tail at the end. Spiky fins ran up it's blue scaled body. It's head held a gaping mouth with razor fangs below large red-pupiled eyes and a three-pointed crest above that.

"What in the world…?" Dylan mumbled while I just stared, agape.

The two wild pokemon were now slowly backing away, growling as they did. Whatever Magikarp was now, lowered it's large head and let out a bone rattling roar. The wild pokemon took off running at full speed, tails between their legs. At first I was relieved until the new Magikarp turned to look at us.

"I think we're still going to die," I said confidently.

The pokemon leaned down to look at Dylan. It's eyes just a foot from his. Then it's expression changed. It's mouth didn't appear to be capable of smiling but it's eyes certainly were. It gave a tiny roar as it tried to nuzzle up to my friend. We burst out laughing.

"Apparently Magikarp is still in there somewhere," Dylan snickered as he scratched the pokemon at the base of it's head.

"I'm glad we figure that out," I sighed. "I wasn't going to be able to prevent myself from peeing my pants for much longer."

We had another good laugh and then Dylan got his new-ish pokemon back into the poke ball. Moving at a breakneck speed, we got out of the woods. Once back into the park, we slowed back down as we headed back to Dylan's house.

"We should definitely go get my car," I suggested. "Enough of this walking crap."

"Think of it as training for when we take the Challenge," Dylan grinned.

"I'm not walking to the store to get a belt holster," I said firmly. "That's like a ten minute drive. My legs have already been through a lot today."

Dylan had to agree so we veered off our original course and head towards my house. It was only a little further to my house and we made good time. Once we got there, I ran inside quickly to get the keys that I realized I had forgotten in my rush to get to Dylan's house earlier.


	4. Chapter 4

Even though I had never been into the pokemon store, or poke mart as I was informed trainers called it, I still knew where it was along the main road we lived by. We parked outside in the parking lot the store shared with the pokemon center and headed inside.

The store had looked pretty big from the outside but once I got inside, I realized that it wasn't all that big. The walls were all covered with types of pokemon memorabilia, trainer tools, and all sorts of health-restoring items. We made our way to the back where we found the belt holsters. I found a simple black one that I liked, grabbed a few poke balls and made my way back up to the register.

"Man I hope you were right about this whole getting money from trainers you defeat thing," I said as we left the store. "That was a little more expensive than I thought it would be."

"Trust me," Dylan assured me. "There's a little pocket in your holster where you keep some cash. Everyone's got it and everyone knows the rules."

We went over into the pokemon center where I found out you could get your pokemon healed. It also appeared to have some lodging in the back for traveling trainers which stretched around back of the poke mart. We handed over our pokemon-filled poke balls to the nurse behind the counter and she disappeared with them.

"Interesting," I said to myself. "So trainers can lodge at pokemon centers for free? I would imagine it's not five-star quality though."

"It's not," Dylan shook his head. "Basically everyone's in a big room with lots of bunk beds. There's community showers. That's about it but it is free."

"Can't complain about that," I shrugged as we sat down on some available benches.

We were silent for a moment.

"We need more pokemon," Dylan said, breaking our silence.

"Correction: you need more pokemon." I waved my finger at him. "I'm guessing whatever Magikarp evolved into is still a water type. That leaves you with two water types and whatever Zigzagoon is. Not a lot of variety when it comes to type."

"Zigzagoon is a normal type. You still need more too."

"Yeah but not right now."

"What if someone in the tournament has an ground/ice type? That neutralizes everything you've got."

I was quiet for a moment. "I suppose so. Fire would still be mostly effective but I'd be smacked around by ice attacks."

"See? I know what's up," grinned Dylan. "Hopefully Magikarp evolved into something that counteracts it's water weakness and then I'm all set."

"Magikarp evolves into Gyarados," said a new voice behind us.

We turned to see the nurse standing behind us with our pokemon in hand. She smiled as she handed them to us.

"Gyarados is a water/flying type," she told Dylan. "That will help against grass attacks but I'm afraid it makes it doubly weak against electric."

Dylan grimaced and we thanked her for our pokemon. I attached mine to my newly acquired belt holster. I liked having them there already. Having them more readily available and easily identifiable made me feel more comfortable about having them in the first place. I motioned for Dylan to follow me and we headed out the door.

"What a bunch of losers," said a voice when we walked outside.

I blinked as I realized that the voice was talking about us. I looked around until I saw a group of kids probably a few years younger than us leaning against the side of the building.

"You really think you can take the challenge?" the same one who had spoken earlier scoffed. "We heard the nurse telling you about evolutions! You don't know anything!"

Dylan tensed up and I hoped he wasn't planning anything rash. True we were older and Dylan was in quite good shape but there was six of them and two of us. I could only imagine that they were all carrying a couple pokemon too. The odds were not in our favor by a long shot.

"Just because we don't talk a big game doesn't mean we aren't good trainers," Dylan shot back. "Knowing all the facts doesn't make you a great trainer, it means you spend too much time with a book and not enough time battling."

"Standing outside a poke center like a group of thugs doesn't make you a good trainer either," I said without thinking.

Dylan looked at me.

"I said that out loud, didn't I?" I asked and got a nod in return.

"Ok, your ass is mine," snarled my new enemy. "We battle now."

"Yeah! Get him Jeff!" "Kick his ass!"

This guy had an entire cheering section. At least I had Dylan otherwise I probably would've hightailed it out of there.

We walked further out into the parking lot, away from the building ad cars. There was about twenty yards between me and Dylan and Jeff and his cronies. Jeff looked supremely confident and so did his group. I cracked my knuckles and neck in an attempt to look confident.

"I want to battle his friend!" one of Jeff's group yelled.

"Let me finish beating your buddy first!" I shouted back. "We aren't going anywhere!"

I looked back at Dylan to see him fighting off a smile. I gave him a shrug.

"If you need any advice, just let me know," he said in a hushed voice.

"We battle two pokemon!" Jeff announced. "Winner take all!"

I lifted my right arm and motioned for him to bring it on. He gave me a rude hand gesture in return.

I laughed. "Treecko, let's go!"

Jeff laughed back. "This will be easy! Go Beedrill!"

I had never been a huge fan of bugs so the pokemon Jeff sent out didn't exactly thrill me. A gigantic bee with an extra stinger on each of its forelegs began buzzing around our battle area.

"Oh not good," Dylan muttered. "Grass pokemon are weak against bug attacks."

I nodded, digested the information and decided that I didn't much care for it.

"Beedrill! Fury attack!"

The bug pokemon swooped down at Treecko and began stabbing at it with its two leg stingers.

"Dodge Treecko! Then use pound!"

Treecko jumped back and the beedrill's barb cut through the space where it had just been. The beedrill lunged forward. Treecko slid to the side and the bug pokemon went past. Pivoting on its left leg, Treeck swung its tail at the head of the beedrill with all its might. It caught Beedrill right below the eye and sent it tumbling to the ground.

"Lucky shot!" Jeff snarled. "Beedrill get up in the air!"

Beedrill's wings started buzzing again and it launched up into the air. It hovered a few feet above Treecko. It looked almost as annoyed as its trainer.

"Beedrill, poison sting!" Jeff pointed at my pokemon.

The stinger on its bottom turned purple with venom and it dove at Treecko.

"Quick attack!" I yelled. "Get away from it and then strike!"

Treecko took off running so fast that it seemed to leave a streak through the air. It ran around the beedrill attack and made a wide arcing turn. Coming back around, it launched itself into a full-bodied tackle into the back of the bug pokemon. They crashed to the ground and Treecko leapt up.

"Treecko," it sniffed at it's opponent. I grinned.

"Get back into the air," Jeff ordered. "Don't come close to it until you have a clear shot with fury attack."

"Don't let it get behind you," I commanded.

Treecko began shuffling around, keeping Beedrill in front of it at all times. The bug pokemon lunged a few times but then quickly withdrew before we could counterattack. We kept up the stalemate for more than a minute.

"This is ridiculous," I growled. "He won't come close and we can't hit them up there. This is never going to end because we can't hit long range!"

Treecko glanced back at me quickly and then dodged another beedrill attack. I blinked for a few seconds. Did my pokemon just try to tell me something? I looked back at Dylan. He shook his head and shrugged.

The odds were against Treecko if we kept this up. It was now or never.

"Do it Treecko!" I shouted.

The grass pokemon reared its head back and then thrust it forward, mouth open. A barrage of seeds came firing out scoring a direct hit and knocking Beedrill out of the air.

"Bullet seed?" Dylan sputtered.

I didn't have time to sputter. "Finish it! Pound!"

Treecko leapt high into the air and brought its tail down with all its power. It caught Beedrill right in the abdomen. The bug pokemon twitched for a moment and then went still. Treecko looked a little tired but other than that, no worse for ware.

"Treecko definitely don't learn Bullet Seed naturally," Dylan muttered. "That is very interesting…"

Across the battlefield, Jeff picked his jaw up off the ground. He pulled his beedrill back into its poke ball and put it away. I could almost hear his teeth grinding from where I was.

"You got lucky," he bit out.

"Some call it luck," I shrugged. "Others call it skill. Just throwing that out there."

Dylan laughed as Jeff turned a deep shade of red.

"Funny guy." Jeff looked ready to explode. "Let's see how you like this. Go, Hoothoot!"

I might be a rookie trainer, but I know a flying pokemon when I see one. This was a very round bird pokemon, with big orange eyes, a black crest over them and small wings. I also knew that birds were bad for grass.

"Time for a rest Treecko," I said as I drew it back into its poke ball.

Tapping the two poke balls on my belt, I fought with an urge and hurled the third pokemon on my belt into battle.

"Pi!" Pichu called as it appeared on the field.

Jeff and his cronies burst out laughing. "Who fights with a pichu? What an idiot!"

Pichu's black eyes narrowed to slits. Sparks crackled from the spots on its cheeks. I made a mental note not to insult Pichu to its face. I had a feeling this was going to end poorly for Jeff.

"Pichu, thundershock!" I ordered after Dylan reminded me of the attack name.

No sooner had I gotten the words out of my mouth when a huge blast of lightning fired out of a glowing Pichu. The blast caught the hovering Hoothoot right in the face.

"Hoothoot! No!" Jeff yelled.

Electricity raked the body of the bird pokemon. Pichu kept a constant stream of lightning going for about ten seconds before ending its attack. Hoothoot dropped like a rock out of the air. Its feathers were singed and darkened from the sheer electric power. Its eyes rolled back in its head.

"Pi!" Pichu scoffed and it crossed its tiny arms across its chest.

"I think you got really lucky you took that thing by surprise when you caught it," Dylan whispered over my shoulder. "It would've fried your charmander."

"No joke," I grinned. "Man, that must be embarrassing getting beaten by a trainer using a Pichu. Come on back, Pichu. We won this one."

Pichu happily trotted back and I scooped it up with my hands. With a little leap, it hopped up to my shoulders where it made itself comfortable. We walked across the battlefield together, victorious in our debut.

Jeff met us about halfway across. He had an incredibly foul look on his face. I realized I was kind of being a jerk and rubbing it in with Pichu on my shoulder. I scratched the yellow-furred mouse behind the ears and then put it back in its ball.

"You got lucky," Jeff scoffed as he thrust a thin roll of bills at me.

I took them and slid them into my belt. "Yeah, I'll concede there was definitely some luck involved."

Jeff looked taken aback by my admission. He continued to glare at me.

"There's no way you could've known that my treecko knew bullet seed," I said. "Heck, I didn't even know it knew that. I don't know how it knew it."

"That's supposed to make me feel better?"

"I don't know, sure. Gives you an excuse for your friends and a reason to find me again for a rematch."

A small grin appeared on his face. "You're going to regret that offer next time we meet. I guess you're all right, whatever-your-name-is."

"Tim. Now send out whoever called out my friend Dylan so we can get that battle underway."

He gave me a small nod and we both headed back the way we had come from. I pulled the money out and counted it. I'd earned nineteen dollars which I felt was pretty good for my first battle.

"You're a natural," Dylan laughed and shook my hand when I got back. "You might as well just get packing tonight."

I rolled my eyes. "Just go win your battle."

He slapped me on the back and took up the spot where I had been standing previously. One of Jeff's friends traded spots with him as well. This time there was no heated banter. They didn't want to talk themselves up too much after I had upset Jeff.

"One pokemon?" called Andy, the new trainer.

"Fine by me." Dylan made his selection.

"Going for the early knock out?" I asked as I made myself comfortable on the ground.

"If by that you mean using Gyarados, yes," Dylan confirmed. "If for no other reason then I'm curious about what it can do."

"Can't argue with that."

"Go Rattata!" yelled Andy from across the field.

I leaned forward to see a small mouse pokemon appear. I was a little surprised by it's purple color. It had a large whisker on each side of it's mouth, big ears and a long tail. It was kind of cute and I was prepared to feel sorry for it.

"Here we go!" Dylan announced and I could see he was readying himself not to butcher the name. "Gyarados!"

You could almost see the strength get sapped away from the rattata, Gyarados was that intimidating. Our group of opponents all deeply inhaled as they took in the great serpent. It was over almost quicker than it had begun.

"Thrash!" Dylan ordered.

With a flick of its tail, Gyarados sent the poor rattata flying across the parking lot. It skidding to a halt about twenty feet away and didn't get up. Dylan was trying to hide a mortified look from his face.

"Did not see that coming," I mumbled. "Well, yeah, I guess I did but you know."

Everyone ran over to where Rattata lay and Andy scooped it up. Dylan put Gyarados away and we joined them.

"Is Rattata going to be ok?" Dylan asked.

The mouse pokemon looked at him and growled. Dylan pulled back and put his hands up in surrender movement.

"Hey, I didn't realize how powerful Gyarados was," he said quickly. "It just evolved. I'm sorry."

"That's how battles go," Andy sighed as he handed Dylan some money. "Although I probably would've used a different pokemon if I had know what was in store."

"Next time," Dylan waved it off as we turned to leave.

As we walked back to the car, I glanced over my shoulder to see the group heading back inside the pokemon center. They no longer had the cocky swagger about them that they first did. We had definitely taken them down a peg.

"What now?" I asked as I hit the unlock button on my keychain.

"What else?" Dylan replied. "We celebrate. Let's go get tacos."

I laughed and gunned the engine.


	5. Chapter 5

**We spent the next two hours sitting at a local Mexican restaurant, reliving our glory moments even though they had just happened. When that got old, we turned to the future.**

"**I want to catch a sandshrew," I said through a mouthful of enchiladas. "I've always wanted one."**

**Dylan grinned. "You do realize that's going to require you to travel right? They aren't native around here."**

"**Maybe I'll go on vacation and catch one."**

"**Or you can just catch one on our way to Pokemon League."**

"**You're getting way ahead of yourself."**

**We paid our bill and headed home. It was well past nine by then so I dropped Dylan off at his house and head home. I was rather exhausted as it had been a rather busy day. Originally I had planned on going to bed but I got sidetracked by showing my parents Pichu.**

**Once I pried Pichu away from my mom, I took to my room and let my other pokemon out. I set their balls in an easily reachable spot so if they wanted to get back inside them they could. Instead of going to sleep, I pulled out my laptop and got on the internet.**

**I pulled up all sorts of online pokemon encyclopedias and other websites and poured over them. I made notes of type advantages, abilities and evolutions. I tried to figure out what other types of pokemon I would need to build a solid team. Quickly, I lost track of time and soon my eyes were so tired I couldn't read anything more.**

**Switching off my computer, I put it away, careful not to disturb Pichu who was snoozing on my desk. I flipped the lights off and was asleep in seconds flat.**

**A commotion woke me up the next morning, or really early afternoon. The two skitty that belonged to my family had apparently run into Treecko out in the hallway and were not too fond of the stranger.**

"**Hey!" I yelled from my bed. "Back off! Treecko is my pokemon!"**

**The two cat pokemon hissed once more and then ran off. I groaned. Apparently my pokemon were going to have to sleep in their poke balls from now on.**

**After a quick shower I gathered up my pokemon and headed out the back slider to our backyard. There was a fairly sizeable wooded area behind my house. It wasn't nearly the size of the park from yesterday but there was probably at least a pokemon or two back there.**

**Taking a hold of the fence, I leaped over it. The erosion had made a small hill and I slid down the crumbling dirt. After wiping some dirt from my shoes, I set off in my search. There was a small pond in the center of the area. All around it were trees that led up to hills like the one I had just come down.**

**I kicked a few pieces of garbage around. There didn't appear to be much else here besides just that. It was a bit of a disappointment. I had gotten my shoes dirty for nothing.**

"**Well this was a waste," I sighed aloud and put my hands on my hips.**

**That's when I saw it.**

**Crawling out of the pond was a blue pokemon with a tall fin on its head and a fishlike tail. It stood on four legs but it was definitely a water pokemon. The orange star-shaped gills protruding from its cheeks gave it away as much as anything else as a mudkip.**

**I reached for Pichu but stopped as soon as I touched its poke ball. Something that I read last night popped into my head: I was right about it being a water pokemon, but that wasn't its only type. I knew it eventually became a ground type as well but I couldn't remember if it was already. If it was, Pichu wouldn't stand a chance. That really only left one option.**

"**Let's go Treecko!" I called and sent the gecko pokemon out.**

**The mudkip instantly saw Treecko and paused momentarily before coming out of the water completely.**

"**Kip!" it said to Treecko.**

"**Tree-cko!" my pokemon responded.**

**Mudkip took a swipe at the ground, sending a glob of mud flying at Treecko. The conversation was clearly over. The mud hit Treecko right in the chest and knocked it over.**

"**Get up!" I cried. "Pound!"**

**Treecko scrambled to its feet and charged the mudkip. It tried flinging mud again but Treecko ducked and swung its tail. The water pokemon was knocked aside but was quickly back up.**

"**Bullet seed!"**

**Treecko fired the barrage of seeds but the mudkip countered with another glob of mud. The two attacks collided in mid-air, neutralizing each other. I was shocked. This mudkip was good.**

**The mudkip charged and knocked Treecko back with a tackle.**

"**Counter with pound!"**

**Treecko fell back against its right leg and pushed off. It swung its tail and knocked the mudkip a few feet.**

"**Quick jump on it and use absorb!" I ordered.**

**I had read last night about the grass move that treecko's learn naturally and hoped it would be useful today. Turns out it would be.**

**Treecko landed on the mudkip's back and grabbed its head fin with its hands. They both shimmered with a rainbow glow for a moment before the water pokemon shook Treecko free. Treecko stood up, looking a little fresher than before. The mudkip however looked even more tired. Treecko had stolen some of its energy.**

"**Let's finish this!" I called. "Quick attack!"**

**With a speed that still surprised me, Treecko sped into the wild pokemon and knocked it onto it's back. I saw my chance and threw an empty poke ball. The ball bounced off the white spot that was the mudkip's stomach and pulled it inside. It shook violently for a moment and then went still.**

"**Nice work," I said to Treecko as I retrieved my newest pokemon.**

**Treecko responded with a cool salute. That pokemon had some demeanor.**

**I glanced around and didn't see any movement in the surrounding woods so I packed up Treecko and headed back to my house. Something told me that Dylan would want to do something pokemon related today so I hopped in my car and headed up to the pokemon center.**

**The same nurse who had helped us yesterday was working again and remembered me.**

"**It would seem you're doing well," she observed with a smile. "Already caught another pokemon I see."**

"**Yeah, I found a mudkip in the woods behind my house," I returned her smile. "Put up a really good fight too."**

"**Mudkip?" she cocked her head. "I didn't realize they were in this area. I'll have to remember that."**

**I thanked her for healing my pokemon and headed outside. I had fantastic timing because the second I stepped outside, Dylan's number appeared on my cell phone.**

"**Sup homey?" I answered.**

"**You awake yet?" he asked.**

"**Awake?" I scoffed. "I've been up and busy for a while now."**

"**I find that hard to believe."**

"**It's true and I can prove it. What are we up to today?"**

**There was a pause on Dylan's end. "Maybe just a little training. Couldn't hurt to get our pokemon some more experience. My place or yours?"**

"**I'm already out and about," I said as I got into my car. "I'll head over to your place."**

**I made the familiar drive to my friend's house to find him sitting out on his front step. I parked along the road and got out. Walking up the driveway, I noticed that he had four poke balls sitting next to him.**

"**Have you been busy?" I asked, nodded at the poke balls.**

"**Yeah, I had to catch something to counter your electric abilities," he admitted as he scooped them up. "I found a grass pokemon wandering around and caught it."**

"**You going to tell me which one or is it a surprise?"**

"**I thought I'd wait until the proper moment to unveil my newest acquisition."**

**I rolled my eyes. "How about right now? You can face my newest acquisition."**

**Dylan's eyes narrowed. "You caught another pokemon?"**

"**Yeah and I'm not going to tell you it's type."**

**He punched me in the shoulder.**

"**Well we can't battle here," he said as he got to his feet. "My dad said we need to find somewhere else to battle after he saw Gyarados. How about the park?"**

"**Can't blame him," I replied and motioned for him to lead the way.**

**Along the way I tried to guess which pokemon Dylan had caught. He kept insisting that I hadn't guessed it but I had a feeling he wasn't going to tell me even if I did. **

**The park was a bit busier than yesterday. The pool and surrounding deck area were filled with people, mostly parents with their kids. The volleyball court had a couple kids hitting a ball around. None of that concerned us as we headed out into the big open field. We separated in the dry grass, about twenty feet apart.**

"**Hey! What do you think you're doing?" someone yelled at us.**

**A pair of girls were walking right at us. They were most likely from a different school district since I didn't recognize them and Dylan didn't appear to either.**

"**We're about to have a pokemon battle," I said as they got closer.**

"**No way, this is where we train," the blond girl shook her head.**

"**Well we're training here now," I shrugged.**

"**No. We always train here," insisted the redhead. "We're members."**

"**I lifeguard here," Dylan informed them as he walked up next to me. "I've never seen you before."**

"**Are you calling us liars?"**

"**Technically no," Dylan shrugged. "I was just saying that I've spent a lot of time here and never seen you. You came to the conclusion that you were lying."**

**I was trying really hard not to laugh. The two girls just sputtered at us.**

"**Tell you what," Dylan said, pressing his fingertips together. "Why don't we all train here? We can have a two-on-two battle. Everyone wins. Sound good?"**

"**Don't cry when we beat you," huffed the blonde and they moved to where Dylan had been before they arrived.**

"**We sure do have a way with people," I chuckled.**

"**Maybe people should just stop being jerks," Dylan scoffed. "Are you still going to use your mystery pokemon?"**

"**I had planned on it if you're using your grass type. My new pokemon is a water type. Figure that'd make a good combination."**

"**I like it. Let's do that."**

"**Let's do this already!" shouted one of the girls.**

"**Nag, nag, nag," Dylan muttered. "Here we go!"**

**The two girls threw out their pokemon. The blonde had a pokemon I recognized as a beautifly. It was a large butterfly-like pokemon with beautifully colored wings and a long tube-like mouth. The redhead's pokemon was something I didn't know. It was short and green with two legs, two short arms, long ears and a big yellow flower on its head.**

"**What is that?" I asked Dylan.**

"**I think it's a skiploom," he said. "I think. First time I've seen one if it is. Our turn."**

**I threw Mudkip into the fray and then took note of Dylan's newest pokemon. It appeared to be a walking clump of grass for lack of a better description.**

"**Is that an oddish?" I asked.**

"**You bet'cha," he replied. "Going to make a good addition to my team. Nice mudkip by the way."**

"**Beautifly, gust!" shouted the blonde.**

**Our attention suddenly snapped back on the battle. Dylan's pokemon was weak against flying type moves like gust.**

"**Move!" we both shouted.**

**The two pokemon split apart, running separate directions, as a hard blast of wind almost knocked me and Dylan over. The skiploom moved in against Oddish.**

"**Tackle!" Dylan ordered.**

**The two grass type pokemon rebounded off each other, their tackles cancelling each other out. The bug pokemon swooped towards them to tip the odds. I bit my lip and took a calculated risk.**

"**Mudkip, use water gun on Beautifly!" I commanded.**

**Mudkip opened its mouth and a stream of water shot out. It hit Beautifly in between the wings and sent it flying away from Oddish. I breathed a sigh of relief. I hadn't been sure if Mudkip had learned that move yet.**

"**Thanks," Dylan grunted. "Grab it and use absorb!"**

**His oddish responded by grabbing onto the skiploom with its leaves. The same rainbow glow that had appeared on Treecko earlier covered the two. Skiploom managed to shake Oddish off but not before it had lost a considerable amount of energy.**

"**Mud slap!"**

**Mudkip dug its front paw into the ground and rifled a wad of mud at the enemy grass pokemon. It hit right between the eyes, effectively lowering its accuracy. Beautifly then swooped in and knocked Oddish off its feet. Mudkip ran up to it to protect it from the advancing pokemon.**

"**I've got an idea," Dylan whispered. "Have Mudkip fire a short water gun. Oddish will do the rest."**

**I nodded. "Mudkip! Quick and short water gun over their heads!"**

**Mudkip spat the quick blast and Dylan acted.**

"**Jump Oddish!" The grass pokemon jumped in front of the water gun and the force of it launched it into the sky. "Stun spore!"**

**Oddish maneuvered itself so its leaves were trailing. A yellow cloud started forming like a jet's tails in the sky. It drifted down over our opponent's pokemon and they immediately stiffened. They were almost completely paralyzed. Oddish hit the ground, rolled and came up on it's feet.**

"**Well done!" I exclaimed. "Wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. Let's finish it. Tackle them towards each other!"**

**Mudkip raced around to one side, Oddish the other. They charged in towards the paralyzed pokemon and tackled them full force. They flew off their stiffened feet and collided with each other in the air, dropping like a ton of bricks. The skiploom stirred briefly and then stopped moving. The beautifly didn't even try.**

**Dejected, the two girls drew their beaten pokemon back into their poke balls. We met them in the center of our little battlefield.**

"**We want a rematch," the blonde one said after they had handed us a wad of money. "We're going to go get healed up and then we'll be back."**

"**If you want," I shrugged. "Next time I'm using my charmander though."**

**They both paled and left almost as fast as they withdrew their rematch offer.**

"**That's some mudkip," Dylan admired as we stood there. "Speedy little one, isn't it?"**

"**You should've seen our battle," I said as I drew Mudkip back into its poke ball. "Gave Treecko quite a run for its money. Your oddish isn't half bad either. Just needs a bigger moveset."**

"**It'll learn acid soon," Dylan told me. "Along with sleep powder and poison powder. I can always teach it some other moves too."**

"**Not a great set for single combat but a great teammate though. How much did we make anyway?"**

**Dylan divvied up the bills and handed half to me. "Twenty each. Not bad for five minutes work."**

**I grunted and we moved to sit on the swing set. "Now what?"**

"**I say we work on some strategy for the doubles tournament," Dylan suggested. "It is in three days. I don't think battling each other will help much since one of us is usually going to have a big type advantage."**

"**Sounds good. How many pokemon do we get to use?"**

**Dylan thought for a moment. "I think we each get two. I think we'd better think this out first."**

"**Although I'd like to, I probably shouldn't use Mudkip," I said after a few moments of pondering. "You're kind of water heavy. Don't want to get decimated by a good grass pokemon."**

"**Agreed," Dylan nodded. "You should use Charmander for sure. We're probably going to see quite a few grass pokemon since they're rather common around here."**

"**Obviously you're using Gyarados. Who else though? Zigzagoon is so far untested. Totodile is another water type and Oddish isn't exactly a powerhouse."**

"**I think it'll depend on who else you use. If you bring Treecko, then I'll probably use Zigzagoon. I can get it some experience during the tournament."**

**I wrapped my arms around the chains of the swing I was sitting on and pressed my fingertips together. I furrowed my brow in thought.**

"**None of those pokemon really have complimentary styles," I said slowly. "I don't think any of them would have the chemistry that Mudkip and Oddish had. Especially anyone paired with Gyarados."**

"**Oh I don't know about that," Dylan replied. "I could see Treecko and Gyarados working well. Treecko doesn't seem intimidated by anything. I bet they could function as a team."**

"**So Gyarados and Treecko and then Charmander and Zigzagoon? That could work. We're going to need to find another place to train though. We don't want to give away our secrets. Any of those people up there could be trainers."**

**Dylan agreed so we set out back to his house to get my car. We drove around town for a while, trying to find a secluded location where we could try out some team tactics. Eventually we settled on the wooded area behind my house. We spent about an hour or so back there until we ran out of inspiration.**

**Moving back up to my backyard, we laid out in the grass, soaking up the sunshine. All of our pokemon with the exception of Gyarados joined us.**

"**You know, I feel kind of bad keeping Gyarados inside a poke ball when all my other pokemon are out," Dylan said.**

"**Yeah, well, Gyarados scares people," I countered. "We're the only ones that know it kept most of the same personality as Magikarp. Besides, you don't want people to see it until they absolutely have to, remember?"**

"**I know," Dylan sighed. "I still feel bad."**

**I grunted and moved my hand to shield my eyes from the sun. **

**We spent much of the rest of the day just lounging around at my house. Occasionally, when inspiration struck, we'd head back down into the woods to try out a new team tactic. Most of our time was spent parked in front of the television, either watching it or playing video games on it.**


	6. Chapter 6

I kept to myself on Friday. The tournament was tomorrow and I wanted to make sure I was absolutely prepared. I managed to find a copy of the rules online and made sure I was totally prepared. Once I had committed them to memory, I took to the backyard with my pokemon.

One by one, I had them show me all their different attacks. After finding out mid-battle that Treecko could use bullet seed, I wanted to know exactly what all my pokemon were capable of. By the end of the day, I knew exactly what attacks they all had and what the attacks were capable of. Feeling confident in my team and in myself, I turned in for the night.

Nine-thirty rolled around the next morning and I was already up and getting ready despite it being rather early for my usual routine. After showering, I threw on some comfortable khaki shorts and a loose t-shirt. I needed to be as comfortable as possible to avoid any and all distractions. I considered putting some gel in my hair but I opted for my baseball cap from the Detroit team instead.

After triple-checking to make sure I had all my pokemon, I hopped in my car and sped off to pick up Dylan. He was waiting outside. With him in the car, we took off for the very high school that we had just graduated from.

We parked outside the football field and found we were far from the first people here. The sun shone in the sky. A large crowd had amassed around the two fields where the tournament was going to be held. A covered booth stood halfway between the fields and the parking lot where trainers appeared to be checking in. On the other side of the booth was a pokemon healing station staffed by some of the pokemon center nurses.

It was a great day for pokemon battling.

After a brief stand in line, we got to the front of the booth where we registered our names. We handed in our entry forms which listed the four pokemon we would be using, or in our case, all of our pokemon. Even though all the rules were listed on the forms we had just turned in, the person working the booth read them off to us.

"You are allowed to enter four pokemon but only permitted to use three per battle," the booth worker said in which was clearly a rehearsed and repeated speech. "No items are allowed during battle. Switching is allowed at any time. A trainer will be chosen at random to send out the first pokemon. Obey the ref at all times. Match-ups will be announced at eleven."

I glanced at the clock on my cell phone as we walked away with our trainer passes around our necks. "It's barely past ten-thirty. Match-ups announced at eleven and matches start at eleven-thirty. What do we do until then?"

"People watch," Dylan said as his head followed a trio of girls. "Get a feel for the crowd and any competition that we can find."

The two battlefields were converted football practice fields. They had been re-chalked to outline a smaller rectangular field. On each of the far ends were outlined boxes where I assumed the trainers were going to stand. There was a line going across the halfway point of the field with a small circle in the center of the line. We found a patch of grass to sit on by the closer field.

We simply chilled on our spot for a while, pointing out anyone that we noticed had the trainer pass. We attempted to speculate what kind of pokemon the person might have based on their appearance but it seemed rather moot since we really wouldn't have any way to tell if we were right unless we actually battled them.

Eleven o'clock came around sooner than we expected it to. Following a massive surge of people, we found a large board had been constructed with a pair of tournament brackets labeled "Field One" and "Field Two". The tops of the two brackets met where the champions from the two brackets would face off to decide the overall champion. It appeared that a trainer would have to win four consecutive battles to win the bracket.

The event staff began removing long paper strips about a foot wide and probably four inches high. Each one had a name on it. The staffers began placing them along the bottoms of the brackets to form match-ups. A hush fell over the crowd.

Dylan's name appeared fairly early on the bracket for Field One. He'd go up against someone named Nick. My name showed up about halfway down the bracket for the second field. My first battle would be against a trainer named Alex. I wasn't sure about how I felt about being on a different bracket than Dylan.

Dylan apparently was sure about how he felt. "Well, looks like I'll see you in the championship match."

I shook my head. "Your show of confidence is admirable."

"I try."

The crowd slowly dispersed. Spectators returned to the fields to get good seats now that they knew who was battling where. Trainers looked around, trying to determine who their opponents were. We all began moving to our respective fields, still all eyeing each other with distrust.

I considered trying to get a seat over at the first field to try and watch Dylan but I figured that watching my own competition would probably do me more good. I was the fourth battle so I found a comfortable spot on the ground and waited for my turn.

The first few battles were fairly evenly matched. I didn't see any pokemon that I was unfamiliar with or anything that I didn't think I could counter with one of my pokemon. The lack of type diversity didn't really surprise me much since there aren't a whole lot of different types available in this part of Michigan. Finally, my turn came.

My opponent, Alex, was a blonde kid, maybe fourteen years old. He seemed kind of nervous but was putting on a tough front. Kind of like me.

The ref standing on the sideline looked at me. "Select your first pokemon!"

I curled my fingers in and out a few times as I considered my choices. When in doubt, I figured fire was never a bad choice.

"Let's go Charmander!" The fire lizard appeared, tail blazing.

Alex's face blanched somewhat. Not a lot but definitely noticeable. I had apparently found his weakness.

His first pokemon was a small green bug pokemon I recognized as a caterpie. It looked about as happy as Alex did with the current match up.

"Trainers, begin!" the ref shouted.

"Let's end this quick!" I called. "Scratch attack!"

Charmander rushed the caterpie, claws bared. The bug pokemon tried to escape but Charmander was on top of it almost instantly. A few quick rakes of claws sent the caterpie flipping backwards. It tried to counter by firing a string of silky webbing. Charmander simply ducked and the web harmlessly hit the ground.

"Ember!" I ordered.

With a swing of it's tail, Charmander sent a series of embers flying towards the caterpie. They hit it full force and knocked it out instantly. Fire had been a good choice.

"Caterpie is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Charmander is victorious!"

I had to smile a little. It had almost been too easy.

"Let's keep trying!" Alex said mostly to himself. "Go Spinarak!"

This was a new pokemon to me but it clearly was still a bug pokemon. It was small and green with six legs and a little horn/stinger on top of it's head. A set of mandibles clicked together at Charmander.

The ref signaled for us to begin.

"Why waste time?" I sighed. "Ember attack!"

Although I was curious to see what the spidery pokemon could do, I never got the chance. Charmander's fire attack took all the fight out of the spinarak. I called for a scratch attack and the round was over.

"Spinarak is unable to battle! Charmander is victorious!"

Across the field, I could see that Alex was fuming, both embarrassed and upset. I couldn't blame him since my one pokemon had decimated his two. For a moment I considered changing pokemon just to even up the odds, but just for a moment.

"This is it!" Alex yelled, mostly to pump himself up probably. "Go Nincada!"

I had heard of nincada but I hadn't actually seen one yet. It was a rather ugly grey bug pokemon with two rather large claws on its front legs. A pair of feathery antenna poked out of its head in front of a pair of green wings.

"Scratch!" I ordered after the ref signaled the start.

"Harden!" Alex countered.

The nincada stiffened up and took Charmander's attack full force without flinching.

"Scratch!" Alex yelled.

One of those big claws cut Charmander across the chest and sent it stumbling back. Alex might have seen a turning point but I wasn't about to let momentum shift.

"Metal claw!"

Charmander's right claws began to glow as it charged at Nincada. Pulling its arm back, it swung with all it's force. The steel type attack made a different noise as Charmander essentially slugged Nincada across the face with a metal fist.

Nincada dropped like a rock and didn't move.

"Nincada is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Trainer one is victorious!"

Charmander turned to me and we exchanged thumbs-up before I recalled it to the poke ball. Alex walked away, dejected. The crowd was buzzing, hopefully for me.

"Not too shabby," Dylan called from behind me.

I went over to him as the next match got prepared. "I'd like to think so."

"Nice move with the metal claw," he praised. "I didn't know that Charmander knew that."

"I found out yesterday," I admitted. "I had all my pokemon show me all their attacks so I'd know exactly what they could do."

"Good thinking."

"So how'd you do?"

Dylan shrugged with a grin. "Well I had to use more than one pokemon but I won."

"We can't all be as great as I am," I said, putting my hand on his shoulder sympathetically. "It's ok. It's something for you to work towards.

He laughed and pushed my hand off. We headed over to the nurses station to get our pokemon healed. After a quick recharge, they were back in our possession. A crowd was growing around the brackets board so we joined them.

A pair of staffers were picking off all the name cards that had lost so far. That made sense but when they started taking off the names of the winners was when I got confused. They appeared to be ready to do something with them but were delayed by the arrival of news of more winners.

"What's going on?" I asked aloud to no one in particular.

The staffers then began to put the name cards of the winners back on the brackets, but not in the order that they would have normally advanced. Everyone appeared to stay on the same bracket, but the order was jumbled. My name was now in the top slot for the second battle. A name got slotted below mine to be my opponent and it was definitely not one of the trainers I had just watched.

"Is that legal?" I fumed. "I had already watched who was supposed to be my opponent! All my game planning was pointless!"

"I mean, technically, they can do that," Dylan tried to explain. "They are running the whole thing and it's not like they're trying to rig it. Looks like they're just trying to keep everything randomized to give everyone as fair of a shot as they can."

I folded my arms across my chest and sneered. "I still think it's bull."

"Not much you can really do about it."

Still seething, I pulled out of the crowd and headed back to my field. There appeared to be a match going on with one still waiting in the wings. With time to burn, Dylan and I returned to our people watching.

The final match ended with an impressive zigzagoon duel. An announcement came across a loudspeaker to tell us that the next round would begin shortly after one o'clock, giving us about fifteen minutes. Dylan was the third match on his field so he wished me luck and headed over. I sat alone, trying to game plan for my unknown opponent.

I lost track of time and the first match had started before I knew it. I didn't pay a whole lot of attention, just enough to make sure there were no problematic pokemon. Wandering over to the far end of the field, I checked in for my battle. I tried to peak

around the battle at who I would be facing but I couldn't figure it out.

The battle ended with the trainer on my side being victorious and after a few minute break, I stepped into his spot. Across the field someone had moved into the opposite spot. Someone familiar. It was the blond girl from the park on Thursday.

"Second round match between Trainers Tim and Ashley!" announced the ref and turned to the blond girl. "Trainer, please select your first pokemon."

I glanced at the face of my opponent and I could see the familiar hatred along with some worry mixed in. She held a poke ball in both hands. She chose the one in her left.

"Go Marill!" she shouted.

I didn't know what to make of the blue pokemon that appeared on the field. It was very round with two big ears. It had short, stubby arms and legs. It's tail was very thin and crinkled with a big blue ball at the end. If Pichu had been a water pokemon, I figured that's pretty much what it would've looked like.

Before sending out a pokemon, I considered my options carefully. I knew Ashley would still more than likely have her beautifly with her and bug attacks would be super effective against Treecko. Pichu would hold an advantage over both as long as a marill wasn't a dual type that cancelled out the water weakness.

"Pichu, let's go!"

A murmur went through the crowd. Apparently battling with a pichu was as rare as Jeff and his cronies had made it out to be.

The ref made a signal. "Begin!"

"Marill use water gun!" Ashley yelled.

The blue pokemon ballooned for a moment and then fired a constant stream of water out of its mouth.

"Dodge!" I ordered and Pichu rolled out of the way. "And use thundershock!"

Pichu hunched over and blasted the marill with lightning. Marill was shocked nearly all the way back to Ashley's feet. It got up slowly, but it was up.

"Rollout!" Ashley shouted.

Marill began rolling towards Pichu at a rapid speed. Soon it appeared to just be a rolling blur of blue. It moved at such a speed that neither Pichu or I could react. The blur rammed into Pichu. Pichu went tumbling across the field with Marill in hot pursuit.

"Pichu!" I shouted. "Use thundershock!"

My pokemon hunched over for the attack but the still rolling Marill was on top of it in a heartbeat. Pichu was launched like a rag doll across the field. I had to think fast or I was going to lose Pichu.

"Need to stop it from moving…," I gritted my teeth. "Wait! That's it! Pichu, use thunder wave!"

Pichu was barely on its feet but it was ready. Instead of the usual yellow lightning, sparks of blue lanced out. They raced into the rolling marill and all of its muscles instantly clenched, making it lose control. It spilled onto the ground and slid towards Pichu.

"Jump on top!" Pichu timed it's leap so it landed on Marill as it was sliding by. "Now finish it with thundershock!"

Grasping with all four paws, Pichu let loose with all the power it could muster. The two pokemon were engulfed in a yellow aura of lightning. When the electricity cleared only Pichu was still moving around.

"Marill is unable to battle!" declared the ref. "Pichu is the winner!"

Several members of the crowd began to hoot and holler. Apparently Pichu had won some of them over. It moved over to stand in front of me, panting and practically daring Ashley to send out her next pokemon.

"I'm impressed," she shouted to me. "When you sent out your pichu, I was sure I had won this round."

"We like to keep people on their toes," I replied, a grin growing on my face.

"You'd better be on your toes for this one!" Ashley produced another poke ball. "Let's take care of that Pichu, Beautifly!"

The familiar bug pokemon popped out of the poke ball and floated to the center of the field. I crouched down to get closer to Pichu.

"Are you still able to battle?" I asked. "I can give you a rest if you want."

Pichu shook it's head. "Pi! Pichu pi!"

I shrugged. "Well let's do it then! Give it a thundershock!"

"Beautifly, slow that pichu down with a stun spore!"

The bug pokemon cruised towards Pichu, a yellow dust emitting from it's wings. Pichu raced underneath the descending cloud and blasted Beautifly from behind. It whirled around angrily and swooped in for a tackle.

"Get moving Pichu!" I shouted.

I had expected my pokemon to run to the side. Instead it ran straight at it's opponent and leapt right over it in a surprising vertical display. Sliding to a halt on all fours, it whirled to face the bug.

"Another thundershock!" I yelled.

"Fly up!" Ashley countered.

With surprising maneuverability, Beautifly used it's small legs to kick off the ground and shoot straight up into the sky. Pichu's lightning passed by harmlessly below. Ashley kept her pokemon fluttering about high in the air, well out of Pichu's range.

I looked at Pichu and it at me. We both shrugged. If I had owned a flying pokemon, I would've switched to counter this tactic. Without one, switching now would just limit my options against whatever pokemon Ashley had left.

The wind began to pick up as we played the waiting game. Suddenly something jogged in my memory.

"Jump!" I hollered.

Pichu leapt into the air. A sharp gust of wind flattened the grass that Pichu had just been standing on. Just because we couldn't hit Beautifly didn't mean it couldn't hit us. It was using a gust attack.

"We've got to get higher and attack," I growled. "I'm open to any suggestions."

The mouse pokemon glanced around and it's big black eyes seemed to light up. It took off running straight at a lawn chair that a spectator had just vacated. Once it hit full speed, it jumped at the chair. Pichu landed on the top of the chair and vaulted itself up into the sky.

My jaw dropped but I got it up in time. "Thundershock!"

Soaring up into the air, Pichu hunched over and then exploded with electricity. The bolt found it's way further up the sky and zapped Beautifly, causing it to drop rapidly. Pichu landed on all fours and whirled around to face the falling bug pokemon.

I looked at Pichu. It was panting hard. I knew this was it.

"Give it everything you've got!" I pointed at the falling pokemon. "Thundershock!"

Pichu exploded with electricity and zapped the beautifly one more time. It slammed into the ground, looking slightly charred. I waved for Pichu not to approach. It didn't really seem to want to any way.

The ref ran over. "Beautifly is unable to battle! Pichu is the winner!"

The crowd was really getting into it now. Pichu slowly staggered over to stand in front of me. It looked absolutely exhausted. Ashley was stunned like much of the crowd. Pre-evolution pokemon apparently weren't known for their battling prowess.

"I still can't believe my beautifly lost to you again," Ashley shook her head. "At least it put up more of a fight this time. This pokemon isn't going to lose though. Go Ratatta!"

Pichu turned to me and gave me a sad look, it's ears drooping.

I grinned. "Hey, you were the one who wanted to keep battling."

I granted Pichu it's wish and returned it to it's poke ball. I considered my remaining pokemon but the choice was easy. I did promise after all.

"Let's finish this one out Charmander!" I called and then winked at Ashley. "See? I told you that I'd use my charmander next time."

She didn't think I was funny. "Hyper fang!"

"No more fooling around!" I announced. "Metal claw!"

Charmander pulled it's glowing right claws back as Rattata charged in. When the mouse pokemon got close, Charmander hauled off and smacked it in the side of the head with it's metallic claws. Rattata bounced across the field. Surprisingly enough, that was all it took.

"Rattata is unable to battle!" the ref shouted. "Victory to Charmander and Tim!"

The crowd cheered for me. It wasn't the polite cheering either, they were actually rooting for me. I dared to allow myself to believe I was a fan favorite. I quickly banished the thought before my ego could inflate too much.

I slid through the crowd and received a few backslaps on the way. Making my way over to the other field, I made it just in time to see Dylan's opponent send out his last pokemon. He didn't look especially happy about it and I couldn't blame him since his ground and rock-type geodude would not fare well against Dylan's totodile.

The geodude jumped itself onto the battlefield. It was essentially a big stone with a face and arms. I tried to study it a little more but Totodile speared it with a water gun and that was all she wrote. Laughing a little, I made my way through the crowd until I was next to Dylan.

"So I was trying to study that geodude," I joked. "Thanks for blasting it away so quickly."

"You know, that's how I roll," he laughed. "I'm guessing from your mood that you won as well."

"Of course," I replied. "Ironically I faced that blonde girl we beat at the park the other day. Took down two of her pokemon with Pichu and Charmander finished the other."

Dylan shook his head. "I'm still kind of shocked at how tough your pichu is."

"I think everyone is," I shrugged. "If only it learned a more powerful electric move. Then it'd be crazy strong. For now though, I'll take the underestimation factor."

After a quick trip to the healing station, we headed to the bracket to find out if they were juggling everyone around again. The workers assured us that they weren't so we headed out to watch some more matches. I realized unfortunately that I had not been paying attention to the match before mine and the winner of that was who I would be facing. Dylan was in the same boat since we had walked around during his competitor's match as well.

A strong smell led us around the football stadium where the concession stands had been opened. After a quick lunch and restroom stop, we headed back over to the fields. It was almost two now. The loudspeaker came on again to announce that the next matches would begin at two-fifteen. Taking our time, Dylan and I strolled back to the fields. We wished each other luck and split up with seven minutes to spare.

I gave my name to the attendant at the edge of the field. She checked me off on whatever chart she had and I stepped into the trainer's box. My opponent wasn't here yet so I just sat down. I fiddled with my hat for a minute or two when my opponent stepped on to the field.

He was the first person entered in the tournament that was visibly older than me. He had to be in his late twenties although he looked like he was trying to dress like he was in his early twenties. A smugly confident smile was on his face. It was clear that he had some kind of plan.

The last couple of tense minutes before the match started finally past. The ref announced our match, giving me my opponent's name: Troy. Troy was selected to send out the first pokemon.

"It's over before it even started," he taunted me. "Whooper!"

If I hadn't heard him call out the pokemon's name, I wouldn't have known what it was. It was short and blue with little purple stripes across its chest. Small stubby legs held up the small body and gigantic head. On the side of it's head looked to be weird little purple branch/antenna things and other than that, it had no arms. A small tadpole like tail gave it away as a water pokemon thankfully.

I reached for Pichu but stopped before I touched the poke ball. I remembered his confident smile. There was obviously something else going on here.

Whooper appeared to be a water type which would trump Charmander but be weak to Pichu and those were the only pokemon anyone knew I had. I didn't understand how he could be so confident.

That's when it hit me: Whooper was a dual-type pokemon! Whatever it's other type must be able to negate Pichu's type advantage. Without an electrical advantage, Pichu would be done for. With Pichu not being available, the choice was easy.

"Let's go Treecko!" I announced.

Troy's smile quivered slightly and I knew I had been right. Whatever advantage he had been expecting was now gone. The advantage was now mine.

"Whooper, water gun!" shouted my now annoyed opponent.

"Quick attack around it and strike!" I countered.

Treecko darted around the water jet and raced in on the whooper. Whooper tried to turn to defend but was far too slow. Treecko slammed into it. The whooper tumbled back towards Troy.

"Get up!" Troy yelled. "Use mud shot!"

Whooper was really slow getting to it's feet. Treecko appeared to have a monumental speed advantage. An advantage that I planned on using.

"No dice, Troy!" I shouted. "Pound!"

Treecko flew in towards Whooper and smacked it something fierce with it's tail. Whooper was down again and struggling to get up. Apparently Troy and Whooper relied on the surprise type advantage to win. Without it, they were easy pickings.

"Finish it Treecko! Bullet seed!"

The seed barrage struck Whooper right in the face, spun it end over end and left it face down in the grass. It twitched briefly but Treecko stilled it with a single fired seed.

"Whooper is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Treecko is the winner!"

Across the field from me, Troy was seething with hate. I had the feeling that he had a well laid out plan that Treecko had violently disrupted. I almost felt bad. Almost.

"You got lucky," my opponent snarled. "Not this time. Go Shuckle!"

I had to admit I was curious where Troy was getting such strange pokemon. This pokemon was a red rock, covered with holes. From the holes, a wormlike head and legs popped out. Something told me that this pokemon also had some type of dual type that would give it an advantage over my known pokemon.

Luckily, I still had an ace up my sleeve. "Return, Treecko! Go Mudkip!"

The cocky smile wavered slightly again and I knew I had guessed right. The strange pokemon was probably a ground or rock pokemon and bug type as well. I had another guess that I had hoped was right.

As soon as the ref signaled to start, I acted. "Mudkip, use water gun!"

Mudkip fired the torrent of water and proved me right. Shuckle couldn't even begin to move out of the way and was blasted nearly off the field. Troy had relied on the dual type advantage again but when they gave up that advantage, being slow as dirt made his pokemon easily defeat-able.

Shuckle had managed to right itself and was inching back onto the battlefield.

"Oh no you don't!" I chuckled. "Water gun!"

"Withdraw!" Troy countered.

Shuckle drew it's body parts inside it's shell just as Mudkip soaked it again. The rocky pokemon rolled to the edge of the field. It's body parts appeared again and slumped to the ground.

"Shuckle is unable to battle!" shouted the ref. "Mudkip is the winner!"

I had to reveal my final pokemon but I had a three to one advantage in the match. Also I got to see my opponent get absurdly angry. I could almost literally see the hate flowing out of him towards me. Apparently this guy had some type of master plan in place and I had royally screwed it up.

"Don't thin you've won yet!" Troy roared. "Your turn Machop!"

I grimaced at the sight of the lamb-headed fighting pokemon. I had the counter available for all his unusual type combinations but I didn't have anything to combat a fighting type. Mudkip seemed as good as option as any so I left it out there.

"Low kick!" Troy pointed viciously at my pokemon.

The machop charged towards Mudkip and dropped to a crouch.

"Jump!" Mudkip leaped into the air over the kick. "Water gun!"

Mudkip blasted Machop right in the face, knocking it to the ground. Other than looking a little wet, the fighting pokemon didn't appear to have taken much, if any, damage. When Mudkip landed, I ordered it charge with a tackle attack.

"Seismic toss!" Troy countered.

Machop braced for the tackle and grabbed Mudkip when it made contact. The fighting pokemon then leaped into the air and hurled Mudkip at the ground with all it's might. Mudkip cried out in pain.

"Hang in there!" I encouraged it.

"Karate chop," Trevor said coldy.

As Mudkip was struggling to get to it's feet, Machop brought the flat edge of it's hand down on Mudkip's head. Mudkip slumped back down to the ground.

"Mudkip is unable to battle," the ref announced. "Machop is the winner!"

For a moment, I didn't move. This was the first time I had ever lost a pokemon during a battle. Slowly, I pulled out Mudkip's poke ball and retrieved the pokemon from the battle field. I looked down at the poke ball, a sad look on my face.

"Thanks Mudkip," I said, not even sure if it could hear me. "We'll finish it up for you. Let's go Charmander!"

I had no hesitation about sending Charmander out to finish what Mudkip started. Mudkip might've been a tough battle when I first caught it, but Charmander had far more battle experience.

"Look, it's our next victim," Troy hooted. "Karate chop!"

"Block it with metal claw!"

Charmander swung it's now metal left claws up and intercepted the falling hand. The two pokemon stood there, eyes locked. Charmander's arm began to quiver as Machop's strength began to overwhelm it.

"Low kick!"

"Jump and ember right to the face!"

Although the machop was fast, my pokemon was faster. The fighting pokemon's outstretched leg just scraped the claws on Charmander's feet. Swirling in the air, the fire pokemon unleashed a barrage of embers from it's tail that struck Machop at point black. The machop staggered backwards, wiped the fire from it's face and charged again.

"Scratch attack!" I ordered.

This time Machop was faster. It dove at Charmander, feet first. Charmander was clipped just below the knees, flopping it face first onto the ground. Machop then grabbed Charmander around the midsection.

"This is it!" taunted Troy. "Seismic toss!"

Machop leapt high into the air and hurled Charmander at the ground. My pokemon bounced off the soil at an alarming speed and a few feet in front of me.

"Charmander!" I shouted. "No! Get up!"

The ref appeared at my side. "Charmander is un-"

He cut himself off as Charmander stirred. It got itself up on all fours and then slowly back up onto it's feet. It was grimacing in pain.

"Continue!" commanded the ref.

I felt a strange heat coming from somewhere and I looked down just in time to see the flame on Charmander's tail erupt. It nearly tripled in size and Charmander looked like it was drawing strength from it.

"You've got to be kidding!" screamed Troy. "This is already over! Machop, use karate chop!"

"It's over when _we _say it's over!" I countered.

I knew what these tail flames meant and I wasn't about it let it go to waste.

"Charmander! Use flamethrower!"

Charmander flung it's arms out and dropped it's jaw. A torrent of fire poured out of it's mouth, engulfing Machop and nearly reaching Troy across the field. Machop remained lost in the flames until Charmander closed it's mouth. The fighting pokemon lay motionless on the ground, covered in soot.

The ref ran over. "Machop is unable to battle! Victory to Charmander and Trainer Tim!"

The flame on Charmander's tail dimmed to it's normal size as I dropped down and hugged the pokemon. It nuzzled it's head in my chest and chirped happily.

"I'm really glad your Blaze ability kicked in," I told it. "We might not have won without flamethrower."

"Char!" my pokemon happily responded.

I looked up to say something to Troy but he had already stormed off the field and out of view. I didn't really know what I was going to say but I felt like I should've gotten in some kind of barb. Instead I just took satisfaction in recalling Charmander and walking off the field through a group of trainers.

"Man, I'm really glad you beat that guy," one of the trainers said to me.

I gave him a quizzical look. "Why? Did you not want to face him?"

"I already lost," the trainer replied. "Don't you know who that guy is?"

"No clue," I admitted with a shake of my head.

"That's 'Tournament Troy'," he informed me with obvious disdain. "He goes around to low-key tournaments like this with cash prizes with pokemon that are specifically chosen to beat up on the most common types you'd see here. Also he's just a big jerk."

"I can see why you wanted him to lose," I laughed and we parted after he gave me a congratulatory slap on the shoulder.

I grinned as I walked away. Being congratulated by a total stranger, yet rival, and facing off against a well known jerk only in it for wealth; in just a few hours I had experienced both the extreme highs and lows of the world of pokemon.


	7. Chapter 7

Heading over to the other field, I found a big crowd was waiting silently around it. Grateful that I stood slightly over six feet tall, I could just barely see over the heads in front of me. I caught a flash of a red beam as Dylan returned Totodile to it's pokemon. Judging from the look on his face, he was in serious agony about his next choice.

"Come on already!" his opponent taunted from behind his pokemon.

I didn't recognize the pokemon at first. It had a long furry body with several dark rings around it's body. Four stubby legs held it off the ground. It was actually quite cute.

It suddenly occurred to me what Dylan was contemplating: he was down to his last pokemon and it was whichever one he had left and Gyarados. Judging from the scrunching of his mouth, the other pokemon he had had to be his oddish. It had seemed capable the one time I had seen it in action, but I wouldn't want to pin my tournament hopes on it especially if this furry pokemon had beaten Totodile.

"Hey!" I shouted without thinking. "Just use it already! I want to be the one to beat you in the finals!"

Dylan looked up at me and grinned. I gave him a nod of my head and an approving look. He grabbed a poke ball of his belt and hurled it onto the field.

"Let's go Oddish!" he shouted.

I nearly fell over. I had meant for him to use Gyarados.

"Let's end this quick!" laughed Dylan's opponent. "Fury swipes, Furret!"

The furret charged in and I suddenly noticed the claws on it's feet.

"Hold your ground Oddish!" Dylan ordered.

The furret was on top of Oddish in a heartbeat. It reared back to use fury swipes.

That's when Dylan acted. "Stun spore!"

Oddish shook it's leaves violently. A yellow dust floated out of them and onto the surprised furret. Furret was in obvious pain as it still managed to swipe at Oddish once before the plant pokemon danced away from it. Suddenly it was like all of Furret's muscles turned to rock. It froze in place and fell over.

Dylan's smile grew. "Absorb everything it's got left."

His oddish approached the downed pokemon and wrapped it's leaves around it's tail. The two pokemon were covered in the shimmering rainbow glow as Oddish drained Furret's energy. It's trainer tried to rally the paralyzed pokemon back into the fight but it was too late. Oddish stood up, satisfied and with no more energy to drain.

"Furret is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Victory to Oddish and Trainer Dylan!"

The crowd began to cheer as I weaved my way through them. I finally made my way through them all and up to a very smug looking Dylan. I rolled my eyes at him.

"That was definitely not the pokemon I meant for you to use," I groaned.

"Oh, I know," he grinned. "I was fairly confident in Oddish but I had to consider using the sure thing. You've only seen Oddish once but it's pretty good in a battle."

"Apparently," I jerked my head towards his downtrodden opponent. "Come on, I need to go get my pokemon healed."

"You aren't quite as chipper as before," Dylan noticed. "If you hadn't yelled during my match, I would've thought you had lost yours."

"Eh, Mudkip got knocked out," I explained. "I feel kind of bad."

"You should probably get used to that," my friend advised. "I highly doubt that will be the only time you ever have a pokemon get knocked out. This is fairly low leveled competition."

"Yeah, yeah."

Not surprisingly, there was no line to get our pokemon restored to full health. There were only four other trainers currently in the tournament besides us and they were all battling each other. We each only had to win one more battle and we would be in the championship match, hopefully against each other.

"I have to admit," I said to Dylan, "that I really never expected to make it this far in the tournament. I mean, I've only had my own pokemon for less then a week and I'm already in the semi-finals of a tournament."

The few other random people that heard me regarded me with surprised looks.

"I know what you mean," Dylan agreed. "I haven't even used my secret weapon and I'm in the semi-finals. I half expected to get blown out here and not take the Challenge. Maybe we really are supposed to take this journey."

I didn't say anything.

Our wandering path eventually took us back to the battle fields. We managed to squeeze our way to the front just as the battle on my field was won. The trainer had his zubat strike down the opposing beautifly with a wing attack after befuddling it with a confuse ray. The zubat fluttered around happily as it was declared the winner. Looked like I would be using Pichu yet again.

We tried to shift over with the crowd to the other field but by the time we could see anything, the battle was over. The crowds began thinning out as people relaxed before the next matches. Dylan and I moved over to the where the giant bracket board stood so we could be sure to hear any announcements.

"Hey, you two are the other trainers still left, right?" one of the staffers asked as we approached.

"Yeah, that's us," Dylan answered him. "What's up?"

"All the rest of the battles are going to be fought on Field One," the staffer explained. "That way nobody has to miss any action. They'll be fought one after another, starting at three-thirty. Since the battles on Field Two finished first, we'll decide their champion first. So whichever of you is Tim will be battling first."

We thanked him for letting us know and went to find something to drink. Checking my phone's clock told us that we still had half an hour before my battle was to start. We spent much of that time relaxing on a picnic bench by the concession stands.

"So what's your strategy?" Dylan asked as he crushed some ice in his mouth.

"Not sure," I replied and took a sip of my pop. "The only pokemon I know he has is a zubat which Pichu can take care of. Most likely take care of business with Charmander and Treecko. They are my powerhouses after all."

"Not a bad game plan," Dylan crunched some more ice. "Come on, we should get moving."

Tossing our cups in a nearby trash can, we headed back over to the fields. A huge crowd had already amassed around the first field. I was glad that we had come over a little early because we had to fight our way through the crowd to actually get to the field. I managed to slip between a very ignorant couple and stumble up to the attendant.

"Trainer Tim Bach checking in," I panted.

"You barely made it," the attendant said, making a mark on her clipboard.

"Not my fault. Crowd wouldn't let me through."

She didn't say anything and I saw that my opponent was already in the opposing trainer's box, waiting. I realized that I recognized him. He had graduated a year ahead of me. The ref approached the field and the crowd quieted itself.

"This is the final battle to determine the winner of Field Two!" the ref announced. "The battle will be between Trainer Tim and Trainer Rick. Trainer Rick, you have been selected to choose the first pokemon!"

"Let's get this started off right!" Rick played to the crowd. "Zubat, you're up!"

The eyeless blue bat fluttered out of the poke ball and swooped about the battlefield. I knew this one was coming and I had my response ready.

"Pichu!" I announced. "It's time!"

The electric mouse pokemon materialized onto the field and dropped down onto all fours. Pichu's glare went unreturned since the zubat couldn't actually see where my pokemon was.

"Begin!" declared the ref.

"Zubat, bite attack!" The bat swooped down, fangs bared.

"Jump over it Pichu!"

Pichu crouched and jumped at the precise moment. Zubat flew underneath, just barely grazing the grass. Pichu pivoted around to face it's opponent. Zubat made a wide arc and came back around.

"Wing attack!" Rick ordered.

"Jump it again!"

Zubat's wings began to glow white as it tore down out of the sky. Pichu leapt over it again. This time instead of making a wide arc, Zubat turned quickly and rocketed back down to strike again. Pichu hopped over the flying attack again and once more as the poisonous flying pokemon showed it's persistence.

I kept trying to order Pichu to counter with an electric attack, but Pichu was always dodging. Suddenly, I realized that that had been Rick's plan all along. He didn't have to hit my pokemon to wear them out if he could just tire them out.

Zubat twirled around in the sky and angled down for another wing attack.

"Pichu!" I called. "Don't jump! Run and put some distance between you and Zubat!"

Pichu took off with a start, barely before Zubat would've made contact. On all fours, Pichu put considerable distance between it and it's opponent as Zubat had to recover from nearly hitting the ground. I noticed that Pichu was breathing hard.

"Hit it Pichu!" I shouted. "Thundershock!"

"Pi-chu!" it screamed as it blasted Zubat with lightning.

The shock kept Zubat immobile as long as the attack lasted. When Pichu ceased, Zubat was on the move again albeit slightly wobbly now.

"No more of that," Rick said. "Zubat! Double team!"

Suddenly, I felt like we might be in trouble. Zubat had somehow created copies of itself. There were now six zubats surrounding Pichu, all of them looking completely real. Pichu whipped it's head around frantically.

"Oh this is not good," I groaned. "Use thundershock on the one right in front of you!"

Pichu sent a bolt of lighting towards the zubat I had determined. The bolt went right through the zubat as it disappeared. A fake.

"Finish it!" Rick shouted. "Wing attack!"

Every single zubat in the sky suddenly swooped down at Pichu. My pokemon gave me a worried look that I returned.

"Blast them all at once!" I yelled out of desperation.

"CHU!" Pichu bellowed.

Five streaks of lightning raced out of the tiny pokemon. Four struck zubats and passed right on through. One took the bolt right in the chest and was knocked out of the air by the shock.

Pichu moved slowly and breathed heavily. Zubat dropped to the ground and fluttered weakly. Whoever got off the first attack was going to win the round.

"Thundershock!"

"Bite attack!"

The zubat tried to lunge at Pichu from the ground but Pichu was faster. An arc of electricity flung Zubat across the field, almost into the crowd. Pichu still moved. Zubat didn't.

"Zubat is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Pichu is the winner!"

"Nice work Zubat," Rick said to his pokemon as he recalled it. "I'm proud of you. Yanma, finish off that pichu!"

I hadn't encountered one of these pokemon yet. It was a long orange-ish bug pokemon that seemed to have a patch of green skin around it's eyes like a mask. Four long wings sprouted from it's back. The wings buzzed as it lifted off the ground.

"Another flier," I said to my pokemon. "Do you want a crack at it?"

Pichu turned around and gave me a sly smile "Pi."

I nodded. "Let's do it then!"

The ref signaled for us to begin. Rick sent his yanma barreling in with a tackle attack. Pichu stood it's ground.

"Thundershock!"

I had expected to catch the flying bug off guard but the tables were turned. The bolt of electricity had almost gotten to Yanma when it made a pinpoint ninety-degree turn. The lightning went harmlessly by.

I was stunned. "That was really impressive. Wow."

"Thank you," Rick smiled. "It's nice to be appreciated by one's peers. Finish that tackle, Yanma!"

Yanma dove in again.

"Use thundershock!" I shouted.

Pichu tried to blast it again but the bug was able to dodge again. This time, however, instead of flying harmlessly away, Yanma made another turn and slammed into Pichu anyway.

My pokemon tumbled across the field. Rolling to a stop at my feet, Pichu was very slow to get back to it's own feet. Once up, it charged back into battle with a purpose. Once again I was amazing by the determination Pichu showed.

"You won't get up from this one," Rick called. "Sonic boom!"

Yanma began speeding up the speed it's wings were flapping. At first nothing happened. Suddenly there was a loud booming noise and Pichu was flung from the field. It skidded to a stop about fifteen feet outside the battlefield.

"Pichu!" I cried.

I ran over to it and crouched down. The crowd was absolutely silent. This time Pichu didn't even try to get up. The ref had followed me over.

"Pichu is unable to battle! Yanma is the winner!"

"Thanks for everything," I said softly as I drew it back into it's ball.

I hooked Pichu's poke ball back onto my belt and stood. The crowd cleared for me as I made my way back into the trainer's box. I didn't even have to think about my next choice. I slid the poke ball into my hand and formed it to full size.

"Charmander, time to finish it up!" I announced. "Ember!"

"Yanma, quick attack!" Rick shouted.

I had seen Treecko use quick attack before so I knew it was fast. That didn't even come close to preparing me for Yanma's. The bug blitzed in so fast that Charmander didn't even have a chance to move. Charmander was laid out and Yanma was back where it had started in only a handful of seconds.

"What the hell was that?" I exclaimed.

"That would be Yanma's 'speed boost' ability," Rick grinned. "Yanma gets progressively faster as the battle continues. Needless to say, it's already gotten quite a bit faster from battling your pichu."

I tried to keep a mortified look off my face. Charmander couldn't beat what it couldn't hit. I clenched my hands into fists and decided to try anyway.

"Ember!" I ordered.

Yanma darted out of the way and the embers fell harmlessly to the ground. Charmander tried again but with the same result. A third try didn't yield a different result.

"Tackle!"

Yanma swooped in and flattened Charmander again. It's normal tackle was now faster than Treecko when it used quick attack. Things were quickly falling apart. I had to do something fast but I had no idea what.

"Smokescreen!" I yelled. "Aim it at the ground right at your feet!"

Charmander pointed it's head down and expelled a giant cloud of black smoke. The smoke filled the air around Charmander, making it impossible to see it. I had bought myself a few moments.

"Use quick attack!" Rick ordered. "Hit Charmander right through the smoke!"

Yanma zipped through and came out the other side without the sound of a collision.

"Come on!" my opponent yelled. "Get out here and face us!"

My eyes grew wide. I had an idea.

"Blow the smoke away with your wings!" Rick yelled.

Yanma began beating it's wings even harder until a strong breeze was coming from them. The wind ran into the smoke and slowly dissipated it. I grinned.

They had fallen right into my trap.

"Scary face!" I ordered.

Charmander came flying out of the smoke. It's lips were curled back, exposing a set of sharp teeth. A wild look filled it's eyes. Yanma looked visibly shocked and I knew the attack had worked.

"Metal claw!"

"Dodge, Yanma!"

Leaping in the air, Charmander brought it's claws down on Yanma, knocking it to the ground. It bounced off the ground and rolled over. Charmander landed gracefully. Everyone else was stunned.

"Nice one!" Dylan laughed. "You used 'scary face' to lower Yanma's speed!"

"Exactly!" I confirmed. "And now we finish it off! Charmander! Flamethrower!"

Before Yanma's speed could build back up, it was awash in a river of fire. The bug pokemon crumpled quickly as I finally exploited it's type's weakness. A few fire-roasted moments later, it was all over.

"Yanma is unable to battle!" announced the ref. "Charmander is the winner!"

"That was pretty quick thinking," Rick commended me as he withdrew his pokemon. "You'll need more of that if you want to beat Seviper though!"

He hurled a poke ball into the field. Out of it burst a long black snake. It was covered in yellow and purple markings. Although it's fangs were large and red, they didn't worry me the most. What worried me the most was the sword-like appendage on the end of it's tail. I didn't like the look of it one bit.

"Take a rest Charmander," I said as I withdrew it. "Mudkip, let's finish this off!"

"Seviper, use wrap!"

The snake slithered forward, letting me see that it was easily more than six feet long. It started to circle around Mudkip. We weren't having any of that.

"Mudkip!" I shouted. "Use water gun!"

Mudkip blasted the snake pokemon, but it held it's ground.

"Poison tail!"

The sword tail that was still behind Mudkip turned a bright purple and lashed out. The point hit my pokemon in the back, sending it reeling forward towards Seviper's head.

"Bite attack!" Rick ordered.

Seviper bared it's huge fangs and lunged.

"Mud slap!" I cried out of desperation.

Mudkip kicked at the ground just right and instead of a mouthful of pokemon, Seviper got a mouthful of dirt. It's momentum was still taking it towards my pokemon but Mudkip flattened itself and Seviper went overhead. It scampered away to put some distance between the two combatants.

"Good work Mudkip!" I praised it. "Water gun again!"

The blast of water caught Seviper in the face again. It slithered out of the way and advanced again. This time Rick called for a lick attack. I ordered Mudkip to get away but it was cut off from escape when Seviper slammed it sword tail down in it's way.

Mudkip turned to go another way but found itself face to face with it's enemy. A big red tongue shot out of Seviper's mouth and licked Mudkip from chin to forehead. My pokemon staggered away, slightly dazed.

"Finish it off with poison tail!" my opponent yelled.

The sword-tail turned purple again and sliced through the air at my pokemon.

"Use bide!" I shouted quickly.

Mudkip flashed a quick white and the poison tail struck home. The water pokemon took the blow right below the neck. Sailing across the field, it rolled to a stop at my feet. A little slow, but Mudkip got back to it's feet.

"Bite!" Rick ordered as the Seviper came flying across the field.

It locked it's jaws around Mudkip and flung it back across the field. My pokemon bounced a few times and then slid to a stop. Everyone held their breath. Mudkip slowly started to climb to it's feet but then collapsed.

The judge ran over to declare Mudkip defeated, but it wasn't out of it yet. Again Mudkip began to rise. This time it got to it's feet as the crowd cheered. Rick looked stunned.

"Ok Seviper," he said slowly. "Let's finish it off with one more poison tail!"

"Oh no you don't!" I countered. "Mudkip! Bide!"

White energy began emanating from Mudkip causing the crowd to "ooo". It pounded it's back legs into the ground and then took off at a full run. It and Seviper arrived at the center of the field at the same time. Mudkip launched itself at the snake pokemon. There was a great crack and a white flash. Suddenly Seviper was flying through the air, off the field.

I smiled. Mudkip had absorbed the damage of the last two attacks and paid it back double in that one attack. It had been a considerable risk but go big or go home.

"Seviper is unable to battle!" shouted the ref from where Seviper laid. "Mudkip and Trainer Tim are victorious!"

The crowd erupted. Dylan clapped me on the back. I was starting to like this.

"That was lucky," Dylan said over the roar of the crowd. "If either of those attacks had been just a little stronger, Mudkip would've lost."

"Yeah… but they weren't," I shrugged as I recalled Mudkip. "I still had Charmander left in case they weren't. No way I would've tried that if Mudkip had been my final pokemon."

"Well, still, good job," Dylan chuckled. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to win this so I can whoop you in the finals. Watch closely. You might learn something."

I just laughed in reply. I did intend to learn something though. I planned to learn exactly how to beat his pokemon.

The final match for Field One got underway quickly. Dylan started out with his zigzagoon while his opponent, Matt, sent out a sentret. It was a hard-hitting match between the two normal types. Although I paid close attention, I didn't find myself picking up anything that would be crucial when battling either trainer. Dylan's zigzagoon eventually won with a powerful head butt.

The next round did provide me with something useful. After Zigzagoon had succumbed to poisoning from the small and pointy nidoran male that had been sent out, Dylan deployed his totodile. That's when things got a little more interesting.

Knowing that his previous pokemon had been poisoned just from touching the nidoran, Dylan kept Totodile at a distance. Nidoran was hot on Totodile's heels with a horn attack though.

"Totodile!" Dylan shouted as his pokemon got cornered in the far corner of the field. "Water gun at the ground!"

Totodile fired a blast of water more powerful than a fire hose at it's feet. The strength of the current shot Totodile straight up into the air. The nidoran screeched to a halt, shocked and out of reach.

"Water gun!" Dylan ordered.

This time Totodile blasted the other pokemon, the torrent carrying the poison pokemon across the field. Totodile blasted it once more before being declared the winner. I scratched at my chin as I took in what I had just seen. It was definitely something that I would remember.

Totodile finished up the match, defeating the geodude that been sent out handily thanks to it's type advantage. Dylan had made it to the finals as well.

An announcement was made that there would be a twenty minute break before the championship match. Dylan found me in the dispersing crowd with a grin on his face.

"How do you like them apples?" he asked smugly. "What now?"

"I'll see you at the match," I said as I turned. "I've got some strategy to think over."

"Wait, what?" Dylan was confused.

I cocked an eyebrow. "You didn't actually think I was just planning to go in without a game plan did you? I know all your pokemon so I need to figure out the best way to beat them all."

A grin slowly formed on Dylan's face. "I like your thinking there. Game on. I'll see you in twenty minutes."

Pushing my way through the moving crowd, I headed back towards the rest rooms. Instead of going inside, however, I went around to the back. I popped all of the pokemon off of my belt and tossed them into the air, releasing the pokemon inside.

I crouched down and looked at them all. "Ok team, here's the deal: we're in the championship match of this tournament. That's the good news. The bad news is that our opponent is Dylan."

The pokemon all looked at each other.

"I know that he's our friend but that doesn't mean we're going to hold back," I said to them. "If anything, we're going to try harder than ever to win. I've got a few strategies that I want to go over."

After I made sure everyone understood what I had in mind, I placed them back into their poke balls. With a stretch of my back, I headed back around to the front of the rest rooms. I started making my way back when a hand landed on my shoulder.

I readied a barb to fire when I realized the hand wasn't very heavy. Not nearly as heavy as Dylan's should have been. I looked down at the hand to see a long slender hand on my shoulder. The finger nails had a pink sheen to them. Definitely not Dylan.

I turned around to see a familiar blonde girl standing there.

"Hi," she said with a small smile.

"Uh, hi," I stuttered. "Ashley, right?"

"Yeah, I'm surprised you remembered," her smile grew.

I shrugged. "I'm pretty good with names. So, um, what's up?"

"I was hoping you'd do me a favor."

This was getting progressively more interesting. "I can try."

"I want you to win the championship match," Ashley said slowly. "I know the guy you're against is your friend but I want you to beat him good. My friend, the one from the park, kind of has a crush on him and I want you to show him up."

"Well I can try," I laughed. "He does have a trump card up his sleeve but I at least know what it is. I was definitely planning on winning though."

She gave me a big smile. "Just consider this a little extra motivation."

Ashley leaned in and put her hand on my shoulder. She looked like she wanted to do something else but settled for giving it a squeeze. She slowly pulled her hand away and with a smile, walked away. I touched my shoulder as she walked around, frozen in place and rather confused.

Her friend liked Dylan. Ashley wanted me to beat Dylan. What did that have to do with anything? Why did Dylan need to lose because her friend liked him? What was she thinking of doing with her hand on my shoulder? I was totally confused.

The wheels started turning slowly. A grin slowly crossed my face.

I decided I liked being a pokemon trainer.


	8. Chapter 8

The crowd parted for me as I walked up to the far side of the field. It seemed like everyone that had been around for the previous matches had stuck around to watch the championship match. I spied many of the trainers that had participated in the crowd as well. Ashley gave me a little wave as her friend was trying to get a glimpse of Dylan.

Like it had for me, the crowd opened up and Dylan stepped up into the opposing trainer's box. The crowd was buzzing. There was definitely a big time feel for this match.

Parting once more, the crowd revealed the referee. He moved onto the field.

"This is the championship match!" he declared. "The champion of Field One is Dylan Barnes. The champion of Field Two is Tim Bach. They will battle using three pokemon to determine the overall champion. Switching pokemon is allowed at any time. Trainer Dylan! You have been chosen to select the first pokemon!"

Dylan grinned and selected a poke ball off his belt. "You know, it's kind of unfortunate."

"How so?" I called back to him.

"Your team is already basically predetermined," he explained. "There is only one combination of your pokemon that you could possibly use. You've already lost."

With a heave of his arm, he released Zigzagoon onto the battle field.

I didn't respond with words, just by pulling a poke ball off of my belt. I enlarged it and held it out straight in front of me so Dylan could see it.

"Go ahead and release your charmander," Dylan sighed, obviously confident.

With a flick of my wrist, I tossed the poke ball into the field. To Dylan's surprise, it wasn't Charmander that emerged from the ball. I gave him a sly grin.

"You just allowed yourself to think that I had to only use one combination," I smirked. "If fact, my team is incredibly versatile. I can counter anything you can throw at me. Right now I'm just maximizing my options to defeat you."

Dylan was stunned. "Seriously?"

"You have no idea. However, I am out of witty banter."

He laughed. "Yeah, I don't really have any left either. Shall we?"

The ref stepped back to the sideline. "Begin!"

The crowd roared. I stood there confidently, hoping I looked as cool in real life as I did in my head. Mudkip stood before me, battle ready. It was time to show Dylan just how wrong he was.

"Tackle attack!" Dylan and I commanded in unison.

The two pokemon charged each other. The crowd got even louder.

The feet of the pokemon pounded the ground as they quickly covered the distance of the field. Zigzagoon braced itself for impact but I had other ideas.

"Mudkip, get on up!" I hollered.

Taking a small leap, Mudkip whipped it's head towards the ground and fired it's water gun attack. The water blast carried my pokemon up into the air to the surprise of everyone. Zigzagoon lost it's footing trying to get around the water gun and stumbled.

"Water gun!" I shouted.

Mudkip turned in the air and took aim at Zigzagoon. The furry pokemon hadn't fully it's balance yet and hadn't turned around. The water gun hit Zigzagoon in the back, driving it to the ground. Mudkip landed softly, now on Dylan's side of the field. Dylan had a look on his face that was a mix of incredulity and amusement.

"I believe you stole that from me," he couldn't help but grin.

"The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner; now *I* am the master," I retorted, quoting a movie.

"Only a master of evil, Darth." Dylan finished the scene.

I laughed. "Glad you decided to finish the quote. Makes me feel like less of a nerd."

"I do what I can. Speaking of which: Zigzagoon! Headbutt!"

My taunting had backfired on me somewhat. While I had been quoting science fiction movies, Dylan's pokemon had gotten to it's feet and edged towards my own pokemon. Now it lowered it's head and launched itself at Mudkip. The two pokemon crashed heads, Mudkip getting the worst of it. The impact lifted it off it's feet and tossed it back several feet.

"Sorry about that Mudkip," I apologized. "I got distracted. Mud-slap!"

Mudkip responded by digging a paw into the ground and brought it up with a mound of mud. It whipped it the mud at Zigzagoon, splashing it across the dark mask on Zigzagoon's fur.

"Zagoon!" the pokemon howled as it tried to wipe the mud from it's eyes.

"Use water gun before it gets the mud out!" I ordered.

Mudkip reared back and attacked.

"Brace yourself!" Dylan shouted seconds before the attack hit.

The force of the water gun moved the opposing pokemon back a foot, leaving a trail in the dirt where it had kept traction. When the water blast ceased, Zigzagoon snapped it's eyes back open. It was then that I realized my mistake and Dylan's genius. The water gun had washed the mud from Zigzagoon's eyes!

"I might still have a few tricks up my sleeve," Dylan grinned.

"What makes you think this isn't one of mine?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Dylan did a double take. "Wait, what?"

"You heard me. Tackle!"

I was a quick learned. This time I had distracted Dylan and Mudkip had gotten it's bearing back. Now it launched it's full weight at Zigzagoon, knocking it off it's feet.

"I anticipated you using the water gun to clean off the eyes," I bluffed. "While your pokemon can see now, it had to take some damage to do so. Needless to say, I came out ahead."

"Tackle!" we both yelled in unison.

The two pokemon charged each other. Lowering their shoulders, they smashed together. The impact caused the two of them to rebound off, putting a dozen feet between them, still in the center of the field.

That space was all we needed.

"Big water gun now!" I shouted. "Finish it off!"

Mudkip actually jumped into the air as it fired it's attack. It's jaw dropped as low as it could, letting the pillar of water get as big as it could. Zigzagoon tried to duck but the attack was just too big. It slammed into the pokemon, crushing it into the ground.

The ref ran over. "Zigzagoon is unable to battle! Mudkip is the winner!"

"I told you," I called to Dylan as he recalled his pokemon. "It was all part of my plan."

"Since when do you play mind games?" Dylan frowned.

I just shrugged. "That's how I roll. Well, now it is anyways."

"So basically you've been sandbagging on me the whole time?"

I merely grinned.

Dylan reached to his belt and removed a poke ball. I gave him a skeptical look, still grinning. He hesitated for a moment and I knew I had him going. Moving a bit slower now, he threw the poke ball onto the field to reveal his totodile.

"Oh, not a good choice," I winced. "I mean really?"

Dylan was really confused. Luckily that gave me a moment to figure out where I was going with this.

"You know my pokemon and you still chose Totodile," I shook my head. "Oh well, too late now. Personally I might have chosen a pokemon that's type might have given it an advantage over more of my pokemon."

I could tell that I was really starting to get into his head now. If I didn't know all of his pokemon, there was no way I could've pulled it off. I stretched out my arm and recalled Mudkip into it's poke ball. Removing a poke ball from my belt, I held it up for all to see.

"Cometh the destroyer!" I yelled. "Treecko!"

The audience cheered for the theatrics. I felt I'd have to save that line again for future use, although I'd most likely want to wait until I had a more intimidating pokemon.

The ref signaled for us to begin.

"Tackle attack!" Dylan ordered.

"Counter with pound!" I countermanded.

The two pokemon raced towards each other. Treecko leapt into the air and begin to swing it's tail around, to get as much force as possible behind the blow.

"Bite!"

Totodile abandoned it's tackle and wrenched open it's mighty jaws. Treecko was too far into it's attack to abort at that point. Totodile simply paused and clamped down on Treecko's tail.

I hadn't seen that coming.

Treecko cried out in pain.

Totodile proceeded to shake it's head about, causing Treecko to flail helplessly about. The alligator pokemon held it's head high, my pokemon hanging above the ground. Dylan shot me a grin.

"Now I've got you," he smirked.

"Got me right where I want to be," I countered quickly to his surprise. "Bullet seed!"

Treecko had to turn it's head just slightly to be looking right at Totodile's stomach. The grass pokemon unleashed a barrage of point-blank, super-effective high-speed seeds. Totodile hissed in agony, letting Treecko slip free. My pokemon rolled forward and came up on it's feet, still calm as ever. It put some space between it and the water pokemon as the other got to it's feet.

"You got lucky," Dylan snarled.

"Or I had that planned," I shot back. "Bullet seed again!"

"Counter with water gun!"

The stream of seeds met the blast of water in the heart of the battlefield. The two attacks cancelled one another out, sending seeds and water everywhere. Eventually the two pokemon had to cease their attacks and the crowd cheered, despite the front row getting soaked.

"Tackle!" Dylan shouted.

"Not this time! Quick attack!"

Like a shot from a gun, Treecko took off. It had covered more than twice the distance that Totodile had by the time they collided. For a brief second, they were suspended in midair until their impact threw them apart.

Despite not having being ordered to, Treecko launched itself into another quick attack; just like we had planned earlier. Instead of hitting straight on, the grass pokemon bolted around behind it's opponent.

"Absorb!" I shouted before Treecko was even behind Totodile.

Totodile didn't even have time to react. Treecko was latched onto it's back and the familiar rainbow shimmer was about them as Treecko drained energy.

"Shake it loose!" Dylan ordered. "Use your back spines!"

Jumping into the air, Totodile leaned back to drive the spines on it's back into my clinging pokemon. Treecko launched itself off and both pokemon managed to land on their feet. My pokemon looked remarkably fresh while Dylan's looked like it was about to pass out on it's feet.

"That was a good trick," he commended me, "but it's time to finish this."

He started pulling out Totodile's poke ball to recall the pokemon.

Just like I had planned for.

"Pursuit!" I hollered, pointing at Totodile.

A deep purple aura surrounded Treecko's tail as it jumped at Totodile. The beam from Dylan's poke ball had just touched Totodile as Treecko smacked it with it's tail. The impact sent Totodile sailing across the field, bouncing to a halt at Dylan's feet.

"Sorry man," I grinned sheepishly. "I knew you'd recall Totodile so I had to use an attack that'd be super effective if you tried."

"Totodile is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Treecko is the winner!"

"You're much more ruthless than I would've imagined," Dylan said coolly as he finally recalled his totodile.

The crowd was really buzzing now that I was on the verge of sweeping Dylan. Despite being down to his final pokemon, Dylan had a look of confidence that mirrored my own. I knew exactly what he was going to do and I only had one chance to talk him out of it.

"Wait a minute!" I called to him, holding up my hand as he pulled a poke ball out. "I want you to think about this final pokemon."

He paused. Apparently he was willing to listen. The crowd hushed. Apparently they were willing to listen too.

"We both know what pokemon you have left. I want you to think about this for a moment."

I began pacing slowly in my trainer's box, like a lawyer cross-examining a witness. My left hand was tucked behind my back. My right hand I used to make hand movements to emphasize my points.

"One of you pokemon is weak against two of the pokemon I possess, one of which is already committed to battle. The other holds a double type advantage over it. It would be irresponsible of you as a trainer to not take this into account. Your other pokemon, however…"

Only the distant sounds of cars could be heard when I paused. I had them all in the palm of my hand.

"Your other pokemon has a type advantage over one pokemon that I already have committed to battle and more or less neutralizes another one. If you were to weigh these factors, there's really only one logical answer. One pokemon gives you at least a fighting chance while the other one puts you at a heavy disadvantage."

I snapped my feet together and clasped my hands behind my back. It was now time to see if my head games were successful.

Dylan hesitated for a moment, even moving his hand back towards his belt just the slightest bit. He flashed me a sly grin.

"If your treecko was the destroyer," he began, "then allow me to introduce… the Lord of War!"

Gyarados exploded onto the field with a roar. The crowd let out a collective gasp. One man was even so shocked he tipped over in his lawn chair.

Despite all the commotion, I kept the same confident smile on my face.

"You seem rather pleased with yourself," Dylan called. I could barely see him behind his pokemon.

"I am," I confirmed. "I got what I wanted. I get to battle your best. Treecko, return!"

I pulled the grass pokemon back into it's ball. I was glad that I had taken the time before the match to plan for this ultimatum. With no hesitation, I released Mudkip back onto the field.

With a wave of his hand, the ref signaled for us to begin.

"Really? Mudkip?" Dylan taunted me like I had him. "Really?"

"Oh, yes. Really." I gave him a grin and did a quick eyebrow raise at him. "I've got three pokemon at my disposal to use to wear down your one. Mudkip is fast enough to last for a while and do some damage. You forget: I've got this all planned out."

Dylan's smile wavered. "Put your money where your mouth is then! Tackle!"

Gyarados lunged for Mudkip.

"Mud-slap!" I shouted. "And then run!"

Mudkip slapped the glob of mud at Gyarados and then took off running. The ground attack splashed off the side of the much larger pokemon's face. Gyarados rammed the ground where Mudkip had been and whipped itself around to go after it again.

"Water gun!" I ordered when Mudkip was safely across the field.

The water pokemon let loose a blast of water that didn't even slow the approaching gyarados. It was much faster than I had expected it to be and was towering over Mudkip in a heartbeat.

"Get on up!" I commanded.

Mudkip fired it's water gun at the ground and launched itself high up over the lunging dragon-like pokemon. When my pokemon reached about twenty feet up into the air, it began to plummet.

"Tackle!" I ordered.

Using the speed it was building up, Mudkip rammed into Gyarados. The serpent pokemon was actually budged backwards. Mudkip bounced off and landed on it's feet, just a few inches inside the battlefield.

"Dragon rage!" Dylan yelled.

A ball of yellow and orange energy formed in the mouth of Gyarados. It floated there for just a moment before being blasted forward at Mudkip. My pokemon managed to get to the side so the attack missed but upon contact with the ground, the energy ball exploded. Mudkip was hurled across the field. It landed with a thud and didn't move.

"Mudkip is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Gyarados is the winner!"

"Is that all part of your plan too?" Dylan asked with a smirk.

I didn't reply. Solemnly, I pulled Mudkip's poke ball out and drew the pokemon back into it. I touched it briefly to my forehead.

"Thank you, my friend," I said softly. "Your sacrifice will not be forgotten."

I reattached the poke ball to my belt. I selected my next pokemon, but before releasing it, I grabbed my hat. Pulling it off my head, I flipped it around and put it on backwards.

"See that?" I called, pointing to my hat. "It's serious now. Returneth, the destroyer!"

Treecko reappeared back on to the field. It looked up at Gyarados and sniffed once. There was no fear at all in my pokemon's eyes.

"You really think you can do any damage to Gyarados?" Dylan shouted to me. "Your little treecko versus my goliath gyarados?"

"Size matters not," I countered with a wag of my finger. "Treecko! Bullet seed!"

Treecko's eyes narrowed to slits and it fired it's barrage of seeds. Gyarados actually reared back in pain.

"You see?" I spread my hands out. "Treecko may be small, but it's attack is not."

"Dragon rage," Dylan growled.

"Quick attack!"

In the blink of an eye, Treecko had sped off. The dragon rage attack exploded on empty ground, flinging soil and grass everywhere. Making a sharp turn once it had gotten behind Gyarados, Treecko was now facing the larger pokemon's back.

"Bullet seed again!" I shouted.

This time the seeds caught Gyarados in the back of the head and it tumbled forward slightly.

"Thrash!" Dylan ordered. "Send Treecko flying!"

Gyarados's tail violently lashed out. Treecko was already on the move, barely ahead of the wide tail.

"Quick attack!" I balled my hands into fists. "Keep away from it!"

Gyarados lashed out again. This time Treecko jumped up and over the tail. Continuing it's speedy pace, Treecko kept far ahead of Gyarados. With a roar, Gyarados attacked and missed again.

That's when something strange happened.

After the third attack, Gyarados started drifting slightly to the left. I squinted and leaned a little closer. The eyes of the water pokemon were completely unfocused. It almost didn't seem to know where it was.

It was confused.

"Gyarados!" Dylan exclaimed, not able to see what I could. "Tackle!"

The pokemon seemed to perk up at the sound of Dylan's voice and dove in with a tackle. Unfortunately, Treecko was about seven feet to the left of where Gyarados attacked.

"Now's our chance Treecko!" I shouted over the commotion of the crowd. "Jump on!"

The grass pokemon charged forward and jumped. Landing right on the back of Gyarados's head, it latched on for dear life. This really didn't help out Gyarados, confusing it more if anything.

"Shake it off!" Dylan hollered.

"Let's go for broke!" I yelled, pointing at the two pokemon. "Absorb! Take everything you can get!"

The two pokemon became engulfed in that familiar rainbow shimmer. Even in it's confused state Gyarados still understood it was in danger and began flailing about. Treecko managed to keep it's grip for the most part and continued to drain energy.

Gyarados twisted around so it's back was to me, still unable to get Treecko off. I had to grin, this was going better than I'd hoped.

"Just drop straight on your back!" Dylan advised his pokemon.

I didn't think Gyarados was unconfused yet, but it seemed like an easy enough command to follow.

"Jump!"

Treecko launched itself straight up as Gyarados started to fall back. The water pokemon quickly straightened back up and whipped it's head towards Treecko.

Gyarados's eyes had refocused.

"Bite and throw it into the ground!" Dylan ordered.

Lunging up, Gyarados grabbed my pokemon in it's mighty jaws. With a fierce whip of it's body it flung Treecko into the ground. Treecko tried to recover and escape but the bite attack had caused it to flinch.

"Dragon rage!"

With a roar, Gyarados blasted the energy ball out of it's mouth. Treecko wasn't as lucky as Mudkip and took the attack full force. When the explosion cleared, my pokemon laid still.

"Treecko is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Gyarados is the winner!"

I extended Treecko's poke ball out and drew the pokemon back into it. Even though my pokemon had lost, I still smiled.

"Good work Treecko," I said. "We'll take it from here."

I placed the ball back onto my belt and reached for Pichu's poke ball. Before my hand got there, I hesitated for a moment. I bit the inside of my mouth as I thought. I continued with my original plan and sent Pichu out to do battle.

"Why'd you hesitate?" Dylan asked. "You couldn't have possibly been considering sending out Charmander."

"Actually I was," I shrugged in reply.

"That would've been dumb. Gyarados is a water pokemon."

"Yeah, a water pokemon that doesn't know any water attacks," I countered. "I think it would've been a far more even battle than you might think."

There was a moment of silence between us, each of us considering our next move.

"Gyarados, bite!"

"Pichu, thundershock!"

The water pokemon lunged forward but was met by a blast of electricity. Gyarados arced backwards as it roared in pain. The chain of lightning broke and small tendrils of smoke curled out from Gyarados.

"How do you like that?" I asked as Gyarados panted. "I warned you about this."

"One attack means nothing," Dylan countered. "Except for this one. Dragon Rage!"

"Run!"

Pichu took off running, the shockwave of the explosion Dragon Rage had created right at it's heels. It darted around the larger water pokemon and slid to a halt at it's back. Still on all fours, Pichu braced to attack.

"Thundershock!"

As it twisted around, Gyarados was blasted by lightning again. I could see a look of concern flash across Dylan's face. I allowed myself a small grin as a reward. Pichu ceased it's attack and Gyarados staggered slightly.

"No more fooling around!" Dylan hissed. "Tackle!"

Gyarados dove at Pichu who was already on the move. The huge water pokemon slammed into the ground, leaving a large crater. Gyarados whirled around and lunged again. Pichu somersaulted out of the way but the force of the impact kept my pokemon off it's feet. Pichu flopped over onto it's back.

Pichu was in trouble and everyone knew it.

"Quick, Dragon Rage!" Dylan shouted.

Gyarados was suddenly looming high over Pichu.

"Thundershock now!" I yelled. "Give it everything you've got!"

"Chu!" Pichu screamed as it exploded with electricity.

Yellow streaks of power lanced up and struck Gyarados. The water pokemon roared but stayed above Pichu. The roar of pain and the scream of attack were the only things I could hear, the crowd was completely dead to me. It was all or nothing right now.

"Don't let up!" I shouted, pointing at Gyarados. "Finish it off!"

The stream of lightning intensified.

"This is it!" Dylan boomed. "Dragon rage!"

Gyarados managed to break loose of the electric attack and fired the ball of energy. Pichu had no time to react. My pokemon was at ground zero of the explosion and when the smoke cleared, it still lay there. Gyarados wavered above it.

"Pichu is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Gyarados is the winner. Victory to Trainer Dylan!"

The crowd erupted.

Dylan gave me a sheepish grin and raised Gyarados' poke ball.

"Wait!" I bellowed, silencing the crowd.

For a brief moment no one breathed. I leaned my head forward just a little and squinted. Gyarados was staggering even more then before. Dylan gave me a strange look and raised the poke ball again. I held up one finger, signaling for him to give me just one more second.

Suddenly Gyarados tumbled.

The great water pokemon crashed to the ground, right next to Pichu. It gave a mighty groan and then fell silent. Stunned amazement filtered through the crowd.

"Ok you can call it back now," I shrugged to Dylan. "My point has been proven."

"Well, uh, I," the ref stammered, obviously at a loss for what to do. "Pichu fainted first."

"Oh I agree," I nodded as I drew Pichu back into it's poke ball. "I definitely lost. I just wanted everyone to see that I barely lost. Makes me look better that way."

Dylan drew his gyarados back into it's poke ball and the two of us headed towards each other. The crowd finally broke it's silence and began cheering long and hard. They poured in around us, making us fight our way to each other.

When we met in the center of the field, we just grinned at each other for a second. I extended my hand. Dylan grabbed it and pulled me into a hug.

"Hell of a performance," he said in my ear over the ruckus. "You do know what this means right?"

"It means I'll be getting my revenge when we meet in the Pokemon League."


	9. Chapter 9

We separated as a pair of tournament staffers pushed their way through the crowd. They motioned for us to follow them. Leading us back to where the tournament bracket had been, they brought us up a small platform that had been hastily constructed.

Finally the workers were able to hush the crowd so they could introduce Dylan as the champion and me as the runner-up. We waved to the crowd as they continued to cheer for us. Dylan nudged me and pointed to our left. There was a reporter and camera man from a local television station.

The tournament workers gave us each a check and a medal and then the reporter waved us over. She and her camera man managed to get a little space between us and the crowd before launching into an interview.

She gave a brief recap of the tournament and our battle before turning to us.

"So tell me," she said to Dylan, "what was the most difficult part of the tournament for you?"

"Well, I wanted to keep my gyarados a secret as long as possible so probably that," he answered. "Or maybe battling against Tim. He knows all about my pokemon."

"Oh?" the reporter responded, turning to me. "Are the two of you rivals?"

"Rivals?" I laughed. "No, we're good friends. We haven't been trainers long enough to gain any rivals."

"How long have you been trainers?"

"I dunno. Like four days?"

The reporter was stunned into silence.

"You mean to tell me that you've both only been training pokemon for less than a week?"

Dylan and I looked at each other and shrugged. "Yeah. Might be three."

The reporter blinked slowly before turning to her camera. "There you have it: two very up and coming pokemon trainers! Less than a week under their belts and they've already swept through a local tournament! Look out League Champion!"

"No seriously," I said over her shoulder. "He should look out."

She turned back to me. "What was that?"

I nodded at Dylan. "We made a deal. If one of us won the tournament and other did well, we'd take the League Challenge. So, yeah."

"There you have it," she tried to close again. "Two more entries into the League Challenge. Let's all wish them our best."

She signed off and then thanked us for the interview. Disappearing into the dispersing crowd, Dylan and I were left alone momentarily. Quickly we were approached by the same pair of tournament workers who had brought us to the podium.

"Are you guys going to enter into the tournament tomorrow?" one of them asked.

"Yeah, probably," Dylan replied. "Why?"

"We only have two other teams registered," the worker explained. "If we didn't get another team, we were going to have to cancel it. With three teams we can at least do round-robin style and have each team battle the other two."

"Sounds good," Dylan nodded. "We'll be there."

"Good," the other worker said. "It should be worth your while. There should be a special guest that you'd probably like to meet. He was supposed to be here today too but something came up."

I looked at Dylan and he shrugged. After accepting a few more congratulations from random people, we finally made it back to my car. It was then that I noticed my phone was rumbling in my pocket. I had missed seven calls, all of them my mother. Apparently our interview with the reporter had been live.

"Well I think I'd better get home," I said to Dylan, showing him all the missed calls. "Should be an interesting night."

I had been correct. Our interview had indeed been live and my parents had in fact been watching. My mom immediately started getting angry at me. My dad remained strangely silent the entire time that my mom was fuming at me.

It was the argument that I had been expecting. She kept saying that I shouldn't risk my future by going on this journey on a whim, saying that I should go to college instead. One tournament loss shouldn't be a reason to take the League Challenge.

"Did you even hear the interview?" I suddenly cut in. "I was the runner-up. I was about four seconds away from actually winning."

"Wait, what do you mean?" my dad asked.

"My pichu was attacking with a electric attack that had Dylan's gyarados immobilized," I explained. "If his pokemon hadn't been able to break loose, my pichu would've taken it out. Instead, Gyarados broke free and blasted Pichu with Dragon Rage to beat me. Gyarados even fainted after the battle was declared over."

My parents were both quiet for a moment as they digested this new information.

"Come watch tomorrow," I insisted. "There's a two-on-two tournament tomorrow that Dylan and I are teaming together for. Watch and see for yourself."

"You're participating in that tournament?" my dad asked. He then picked up his phone and left the room.

My mom didn't have anything else to say and left the room. I quickly pulled out my phone and called up some friends. A group of them were at someone's house to watch a basketball game so I left my house to go join them, mostly to avoid any more confrontations with my mom. I was gone for most of the evening, getting home well after midnight and more importantly, well after my mom was in bed.

The alarm I had set went off at ten a.m. and I rolled out of bed. After a quick shower I pulled on a pair of shorts and a shirt as it appeared to be another warm day. I tugged my hat on and I was essentially ready to go. Grabbing all my poke balls and car keys, I headed out the door.

I pulled into Dylan's driveway a minute later. Once again, he was waiting out on his front step.

"So did you have a fun conversation with your parents too?" I asked once Dylan got in the car.

"Oh yeah," he grimaced. "My dad went nuts since he'd already shelled out some money for my tuition."

"Bet that was fun." I pulled onto the main roads.

"I basically had to promise him that I'd repay him if we didn't make it. If I do become a famous pokemon trainer and make lots of money, he said that all would be forgiven."

I had to laugh. "My mom blew a gasket too. My dad seemed strangely cool with the whole thing though. At least I think so, he didn't really say a whole lot but it didn't seem like he was mad at all."

"Take what you can get."

We arrived to the high school almost half an hour before the tournament was scheduled to begin. Once we parked, we found a plethora of signs telling us that the tournament had been moved to the main school football stadium. Apparently the turn out to the previous days tournaments was much more than they had anticipated and wanted to be able to use the stadiums bleacher seating to their advantage.

As soon as we reached the main gate, a worker ran up to us looking very relieved.

"We were worried that you guys might now show," she said. "A few more teams have signed up once word got out that you two were teaming up. We also think the crowd is probably here to see you."

I looked through the gates to see that the bleachers were filling up quickly. Apparently our bold declaration to take the League Challenge had garnered some interest in the local population.

The worker motioned for us to follow her into the stadium. As she lead us to the big tournament bracket board, she pointed out where the healing station was being set up. True to her word there were more than just the two other teams that we had been told about yesterday. The bracket now had seven teams slotted in. Six teams would battle in the first round and one team would get a bye to the second. Dylan and I were listed as the team that got the free pass to the second round.

"You guys were the winner and runner-up in the tournament yesterday," one of the workers explained when I asked how we got lucky. "No one is really going to debate that you guys didn't earn a free pass."

I grinned. I couldn't argue with that either.

I read over the board and saw a few familiar names from yesterday's tournament. "Tournament Troy" was not one of them but I did see Ashley the blonde girl and her brunette friend, Dawn, listed as one of our potential opponents in the second round. I nudged Dylan and pointed it out to him.

"We sure are seeing a lot of these girls," he scratched his head. "I wonder if they like us."

I just grinned.

One of the staffers informed us that we could just wander about until it was our turn to battle as long as we didn't stray too far. I didn't anticipate really going anywhere until I scanned the stands. A large group of friends of both of us and a sizeable group of separate friends had turned out despite neither of us telling anyone. We made our way up and I settled in between a pair of girls.

"Word travels quickly I see," I said to Jen, the brunette on my left.

"Yeah, a couple of us happened to see the news," she replied. "One text message turned into a couple. People got curious I guess."

"Look at those two girls down there," scoffed Carrie, the blonde on my right. "I can't believe they're going to battle in that."

I looked down at the field to see Ashley and Dawn wandering around. Both had jean mini skirts and high heels on. I couldn't contain my grin.

"What's that smirk for?" Jen asked.

"Oh, they're just trying to catch the attention of a pair of trainers," I explained. "It takes more than flashing a little leg for me to take notice though."

"What makes you think they're trying to attract you? Jen shot me a look.

"Trust me on this one."

"I would like to think you'd like a much less flashy girl, a smart girl that can still be flashy when she wants to." Carrie gave me a sly wink. She and I were good friends and she knew that I was interested in Jen.

"Speaking of you," Jen changed the subject, "why are you up here? Are you and Dylan going to make some dramatic entrance?"

I started to reply but stopped. My eyes got really wide.

"That is a really good idea!" Excitement filled my words.

I jumped up off the bleacher and sought out Dylan. After I explained my idea to him, we pushed our way up to the announcer's booth at the top of the stadium. I knocked on the door. It swung open to reveal an older, balding man.

"Can I help you?" he asked slowly.

"I hope so," I replied with a nod. I pointed at Dylan. "He won the tournament yesterday and I was runner-up. We're teamed up for the tournament today and have a first round bye. Any chance we could make a big entrance for our first battle?"

He started to look like he was going to reject us but then he changed his mind.

"What do you have in mind?"

Dylan and I grinned.

We made our arrangements with the announcer and headed back to our seats. Not too long after we sat back down did the tournament get under way. I half-heartedly paid attention, more concerned with the subtle flirting I was attempting with Jen. Once the match that would determine our opponent started, I focused in on the battle.

Despite Carrie's critique of their outfits, Ashley and Dawn were doing quite well for themselves. Ashley was using her beautifly and marill to compliment Dawn's skiploom and pidgey. I began to suspect that Dylan and I weren't their only targets for their clothes. The two young men they were battling were more focused on the females than the battle and were swept easily.

Even though I knew I shouldn't, I ignored the first two matches of the next round as well. When the third match started, I caught Dylan's eye and jerked my head towards the field. He nodded. We slipped out of the bleachers and headed down to the field.

At field level, one of the staffers pointed us to the far end of the field. That would be where we would battle from. Keeping an eye on the current battle, we walked around the field to our end. We only had to stand around for a few minutes before the battle was won.

"You ready?" Dylan asked, cracking his knuckles.

I turned my hat backwards. "I am now."

The announcer introduced our opponents, Ashley and Dawn, and then something no one expected happened: music began blasting through the sound system. 'Highway to Hell' by AC/DC filled the arena as the announcer began his introduction of us.

"Hailing from Grand Rapids, Michigan comes two up and coming trainers, set to take on the League Challenge after this very tournament. Winning yesterday's tournament and placing second, they form a most potent and problematic team. I give you Team One of Dylan Barnes and Tim Bach!"

"Totally worth it," I laughed.

The crowd had a mixed reaction. The younger crowd loved it while the older group was a little surprised by the showmanship. The people closer to our age made up the applause lost from the older generations.

I looped my arm around Dylan's neck and pulled him close. We stared intently across the field at our opponents.

"What do you think?" I asked him. "You saw what they had last battle. I also know that the one on the left has a rattata but I don't expect to see it."

"I'm thinking we start with Charmander and Zigzagoon," Dylan nodded as he spoke. "Zigzagoon is neutral to anything they might use and Charmander has a good chance to have a type advantage."

"Team Two!" the ref hollered over the music. "Select your pokemon!"

"Or we could wait and see what they use first," Dylan shrugged.

It turned out to be a good thing that we did. Ashley sent out her marill and Dawn her pidgey.

"I'm going Treecko," I said as I held the poke ball up near my chin. "You?"

"Still sticking with Zigzagoon," my teammate replied. "Let's do it!"

"Treecko, let's go!"

"Zigzagoon, it's time!"

The four pokemon stood near the center line drawn across the field. The music was finally shut off. I slid my left foot out and ground it in. Dylan clenched his fists.

The ref waved his small flag. "Begin!"

"Pidgey, use quick attack on Treecko!"

"Marill use rollout!"

"Counter with pound Treecko!"

"Headbutt Zigzagoon!"

The small flying pokemon darted in on my pokemon. Treecko leapt in the air and met the attack with a mighty swing of it's tail. The impact sent them both sailing backwards. Marill had begun rolling at a high speed towards our side of the field. Zigzagoon met it halfway, head lowered, and sent it careening off to the side.

"Bullet seed on Marill!" I shouted, pointing at the wobbly water pokemon.

Treecko whipped around and fired a seed stream. Pidgey swooped down in front of Marill and beat it's wings quickly. A heavy gust of wind met the seeds and sent them off course. Marill came out of it's roll and blasted Treecko with a water gun.

Apparently Dylan and I weren't the only ones who had been preparing.

"We need to get that bird out of the sky," Dylan grumbled. "If you can get it down, we can take care of it."

"If that marill wasn't out, I'd switch to Charmander and roast it," I sneered. "We'll just do this the hard way. Quick attack! Force Pidgey down with the rest of us!"

In the blink of an eye, Treecko had taken off. Leaping in the air, it came crashing down on Pidgey's back. The two pokemon tumbled to the ground. Treecko rebounded quickly. Pidgey did not.

"Headbutt!"

Zigzagoon raced across the field and caught Pidgey right in the sternum, tossing it in the air.

"Pound!"

Treecko charged towards where Pidgey was going to land and hauled it's tail around. The grass pokemon clubbed the flying pokemon to the ground. It stayed on the ground.

"Pidgey is unable to battle!" the ref declared.

Dawn gave us a dirty look and recalled her pidgey. In it's place she sent out her skiploom.

"Focus on the marill," I said to Dylan, holding up a clenched fist. "If we get rid of that, Charmander can sweep the field."

"On it," he replied simply. "Sand attack!"

Dashing across the field, Zigzagoon closed in on Marill. When it got a few feet in front of the opposing pokemon, it dug it's paw into the top soil and flung dirt into it's eyes. The water pokemon squeaked in alarm and tried to wipe it's eyes.

"Bullet seed!" I ordered.

The grass attack caught the blinded pokemon completely off guard. Dylan was ready and added a tackle attack. Leaping into the air, Treecko rained seeds down on Marill.

However, I had forgotten that Skiploom was a flying type. The plump flowered pokemon tackled Treecko out of the air before it could finish off Marill. The dual typed pokemon tried to shake some poison powder on Treecko but my pokemon scampered away before any harm could be done.

Dylan was on his game, though. While I was distracted by my pokemon getting tackled, he had tackled Marill again. It had been enough to defeat the water pokemon.

"Marill is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Team Two is down to their final pokemon!"

Fury built in the two girls' faces. They weren't about to be beaten by the same guys again. Ashley's beautifly joined the fray.

I recalled Treecko into it's ball and swept my other arm out wide.

"It's over! Rage… of the Inferno!"

With an underhanded toss, I released Charmander on to the battlefield.

"Sand attack Zigzagoon!" Dylan ordered as we had planned.

"Flamethrower!" I shouted.

The normal type pokemon sent two clumps of sandy dirt into the sky, in an falling arc towards our opponent's pokemon. Charmander let loose a stream of fire that the sand attack passed through. Now instead of falling sand, it was _flaming _falling sand.

The crowd rewarded our ingenuity with a round of applause. Beautifly and Skiploom were less than thrilled, taking serious damage from the attack. The two female trainers tried to recover but it was too late.

"Sweep the field with flamethrower!" I yelled before they could take the offensive.

A river of flames poured out of Charmander's mouth. Turning it's head to the sides, Charmander caught both the opposing pokemon with the fire attack. With their weakness to fire, both were immediately knocked out.

"Beautifly and Skiploom are defeated!" the ref declared. "Victory to Team One!"

The crowd roared. Dylan and I opened our arms up, pointed slightly to the sky, in a victory pose.

"That turned out to be a little more of a challenge than I expected," Dylan admitted to me as we recalled our pokemon.

"Yeah, when that pidgey blocked my bullet seed I thought we might be in a little trouble," I agreed. "Glad you were able to take out that marill. I had totally forgotten that skiplooms can fly."

We walked off the field and to the healing station. The nurse there congratulated us as our pokemon healed. Ashley and Dawn appeared behind us. I turned to say something but they wouldn't even look at us. Apparently they were expecting their feelings to be returned and for us to let them win, or something.

Dylan and I walked away, grinning.

"So much for our admirers," Dylan laughed.

"We can still admire them from afar," I chuckled as I peaked back to take a last look at their long legs.

An announcement was made that the next round would start in fifteen minutes. We started walking back to our seats in the bleachers.

"Wait a second," Dylan stopped walking. "Isn't that us? Don't we fight again?"

I glanced up at the tournament board. "Oh, hey, what do you know? I forgot there was only seven teams. That is us fighting next. This is going to be a fast tournament unless this championship match is really drawn out."

"I could end it real quick," Dylan shrugged as we moved closed to the board.

"If you want to. I'm fine with that. I'm getting hungry."


	10. Chapter 10

We stood around for the next few minutes, trying to scope out our opponents. Neither of us had been paying attention during the previous few matches so trying to spot someone we had never seen before was kind of pointless. Eventually we just headed over to our trainer's box to wait. I laid down in the grass and soaked up the sun for a few moments.

A staffer came over to check in with us. Since he clearly knew who we were, he just registered the pokemon we planned to use in the battle. I checked in with my two powerhouses, Charmander and Treecko, again. After some debate, Dylan registered the same pokemon he had used last time as well.

While we had been talking with the staffer, our opponents had taken up residence in the opposing trainer's box. Although they were around our age, I didn't recognize them. They were huddled up, apparently talking strategy, with a staffer standing off to the side. They finally broke their huddle, conferred with the staffer and put on their game faces.

We got a thumbs-up from one of the staffers on the side and the announcer began introducing the teams. It was then that we found out that our opponents' names were Josh and Luke. They were also chosen to send out their pokemon first. Josh sent out a small blue-skinned pokemon with a plant bulb on it's back that I recognized as a bulbasaur. Luke released a round-ish furry pokemon with a long tail and a set of nasty teeth. Until he called it a raticate, I couldn't come up with it's name.

With a grass pokemon already on the field, I only had one choice. "Charmander! Let's go!"

Dylan was ready with Charmander's partner. "Here we go Zigzgoon!"

The battle was on.

"Use razor leaf Bulbasaur!" Josh yelled.

A series of spinning leaves blasted out near the base Bulbasaur's bulb. A cloud of them tore through the air towards our pokemon.

"Blast those leaves with flamethrower!" I ordered.

Charmander stepped in front of Zigzagoon and let loose with flamethrower. Any leaves caught in the blast were instantly incinerated. A few strays sliced into the ground but our pokemon were left unharmed.

"Hyper fang!" Luke yelled.

The raticate on the other side of the field suddenly took off. With it's fangs bared, it lunged at Charmander.

"Metal claw!" I was ready with a counter.

Charmander's right claws began to glow, becoming metallic. When Raticate got close, my pokemon jabbed the steel claws into the biting teeth. The normal type pokemon clamped down but Charmander didn't even flinch. Raticate's eyes darted around, obviously confused.

"Head butt!" Dylan roared.

Zigzagoon launched itself at the stunned raticate. The lowered head caught Raticate in the side and sent it tumbling across the field, Charmander now free. Bulbasaur started charging in defense of it's partner. I decided to make that into a bad decision.

"Use flamethrower on Bulbasaur!" I pointed at the grass pokemon.

Before the bulbasaur could react, it was awash in flames. It managed to escape the flamethrower after a few seconds but it was far from unscathed. Bulbasaur was deeply charred, a single flame still burning on the tip of it's bulb.

"Tackle attack!" Dylan shouted.

Zigzagoon charged the wounded plant pokemon, completely flattening it. With a pivot step, it was heading a completely different direction. A moment later it had crashed into Raticate as well. The raticate still stirred so I had Charmander put it down with a metal claw attack.

"Both Raticate and Bulbasaur are unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Team Two is down to their final pokemon!"

"That was a little easier than I expected," I said to Dylan. "They looked to doing some serious strategizing earlier."

"Let's keep it up," he urged. "I might make it through this tournament using only one pokemon."

Our opponents sent out their next pokemon. They looked remarkably similar but were clearly different. Both looked a little bit like Pichu, being small and yellow with tall ears. These pokemon's ears where much thinner though. One had red markings and the other had blue. The blue one's tail ended in something shaped like a minus sign and the red one's ended in something like a plus. Sparks crackled in the air between them, giving them away as electric pokemon.

"Minum!" Josh yelled and the blue one perked up. "Helping hand!"

"Plusle!" the other looked over as Luke spoke. "Helping hand!"

The two yellow pokemon closed the space between them and then stood on their hind legs. Each reached out and they gave each other a high-five. More sparks began crackling around them.

Dylan looked at me. I shrugged in return.

"Let's end this quick!" Dylan yelled. "Head butt Zigzagoon!"

"Use thunderbolt Minum!" Josh ordered.

I had seen Pichu use thundershock. I understood that thunderbolt was basically a stronger version of thundershock but nothing could prepare me for what Minum released. It was easily more than five times the size and strength than anything Pichu had ever used.

"Zigzagoon! No!" Dylan cried, shielding his eyes.

Since Zigzagoon had yet to take any damage in the battle, it somehow managed to stay on it's feet after the mighty attack but just barely. It suddenly dawned on me that this was what they had been planning. Something in that first move they had both used had somehow greatly enhanced their pokemon's power.

"Charmander, return!" I retrieved the pokemon from the field. "Your turn Treecko!"

"What are you doing?" Dylan asked.

"Treecko is faster than Charmander and electric attacks aren't as effective," I explained. "I figure Treecko can wear them out and if we can't finish them, Charmander can."

I clenched my fists and turned back to the battle. Suddenly we had found ourselves out-game planned. Our little trick attacks that we had come up with seemed childish compared to what Josh and Luke had unleashed.

"Treecko, quick attack!"

"Tackle attack Zigzagoon!"

Our pokemon raced in on the two electric pokemon, Treecko leading the way. They headed straight for the blue minum. Right before they would've hit, Treecko jumped high into the air at my command. Minum was distracted and Zigzagoon scored a direct hit. Suddenly, lightning began to crackle around Zigzagoon.

"It's paralyzed!" Josh yelled.

"Plusle! Thunderbolt!" Luke shouted.

There was no walking away from this attack. Zigzagoon was blasted clear across the field, crashing to the ground in front of Dylan. He bent down and picked up the still pokemon.

"I'm sorry," he said to it. "I had no idea that could happen. We'll finish it for you!"

Dylan stood back up, a fire in his eyes and a poke ball in his hand. I knew what was next. If it weren't for the electric pokemon on the field, I'd be happy to see it.

"Gyarados! It's time!"

The mighty blue-scaled pokemon formed on the field, announcing itself with a roar. Plusle and Minum both took a few steps back, clearly intimidated by the water pokemon. I took advantage of the hesitation.

"Bullet seed!" I ordered. "Spray them both!"

Instead of the usual straight shot of seeds, Treecko unleashed a hail of the energy-coated seeds on our opponents. It didn't cause a whole lot of damage since there were more misses than hits, but at this point I was willing to take what I could get.

"Dragon rage!" Dylan pointed viciously at Minum.

Gyarados formed and fired the ball of yellow energy. Minum was faster than it had let on and was able to scamper out of the way without harm. Plusle was charging in at Treecko, energy crackling around it.

"Meet that plusle head on with a pound attack!" I shouted.

Treecko charged forward and swung it's tail. There was a crack of energy and the two pokemon were thrown apart. Both skidded back, still on their feet.

"Bullet seed!"

"Thunderbolt!"

My pokemon got off two seeds before the lightning struck. Treecko was able to take the attack better than Zigzagoon had, but it still drove my pokemon down to one knee. Only Gyarados scooping up Treecko with it's tail at the last second saved it from a follow up thunderbolt from Minum.

The two opposing trainers grinned.

"Get off Gyarados!" I screamed.

Treecko just barely got off in time. The water pokemon was ravaged by the dual thunderbolts. If we didn't act soon, Gyarados would be lost too.

"Quick attack!" I ordered. "One after the other!"

With that great speed, Treecko was off. It blasted into Plusle and knocked it almost ten feet back. I noticed a small crackle of lightning around Treecko and winced. Treecko ignored it. My pokemon then repeated it's attack on Minum, giving Dylan's pokemon enough time to recover.

"Dragon rage!" Dylan yelled. "Follow up with thrash!"

This time Minum wasn't able to get away clean. The force of the blast lifted the small pokemon off the ground, leaving it defenseless. Gyarados was waiting with it's tail cocked back. With a mighty thrash of it's lower body, the water pokemon sent the minum sailing out of the battlefield. It crashed into a stadium wall and fell completely still.

After the ref declared Minum unable to battle, I noticed something changed with Plusle. A lot of the electricity that had been jumping around it faded away. Somehow being near Minum had been giving it energy. I didn't know how and I didn't care anymore.

"Hit it hard and hit it fast with pound!" I curled my fingers into claws. "I want this battle won!"

Treecko took off running and the plusle braced itself. It charged up it's power and let loose with a thunderbolt. Exactly as I had planned.

"Ground pound!" I snapped.

Rolling forward, Treecko used it's tail to springboard itself into the air. The grass pokemon sailed high above the electric attack to safety. Unfortunately for Plusle, using thunderbolt had left it defenseless for a moment and that was all Dylan needed.

"Dragon rage!" Dylan snarled.

There was no chance of escape. The yellow energy ball was the size of Plusle and exploded on contact. When the blast cleared, the only movement on the field was from Treecko and Gyarados.

"Plusle is unable to battle!" the ref shouted. "Team Two is defeated! Team One of Dylan and Tim are the winners!"

After all my other victories, I had felt pleased. Even after I had lost to Dylan yesterday, I had felt pleased. Right now I just felt relieved. Our overconfidence had almost cost us. Zigzagoon had been ravaged by lightning. Gyarados and Treecko had taken their fair share of damage as well. Treecko had even been paralyzed but was able to fight through it.

"We got a little lucky there, didn't we?" Dylan put a hand on my shoulder.

I nodded and started to head on to the field. I collected my pokemon as I made my way towards the center of the field. Josh caught my eye and I waved him over. After a moment of hesitation, he and Luke met me in the center of the field with Dylan joining us shortly after.

"Nice match there guys," I said as I extended my hand. "I got to know though, what did you do to those pokemon?"

"What do you mean?" Josh asked after he released my hand.

"How'd they get so powerful?" I expanded on my question. "What was that move you guys used in the beginning?"

"Ah, that would be 'helping hand'" Luke explained. "It boosts the power of the recipients moves by one-point-five. You've got that and the 'Plus/Minus' ability and that's how we did it."

"Wait," Dylan held up his hand. "The what ability?"

"Plus and Minus," Josh said a little slower. "When Plusle and Minum are on the field together, their special attacks are multiplied by one-point-five. Factor the two things together and it more than doubles their initial abilities."

I was blown away. I knew we had won a close battle but I know I realized how much. I was also now much more impressed that Gyarados was able to survive the electric onslaught it had faced despite it's weakness to it.

"Hell of a tactic," I admitted. "I'll have to remember that for the future."

With a nod of their heads, they left us.

"We almost got owned." Dylan said what we were both thinking.

The sound of our names filled my ears and I looked around. My blinders to the world came off. The crowd was still buzzing from the match. The people calling our names were the staffers standing over by the tournament. They were wildly waving us over to them. We decided to oblige them.

"Ladies and gentlemen," began the announcer. "I give to you the winners of today's two-on-two pokemon tournament: Tim Bach and Dylan Barnes!"

We turned and waved to the crowd. A standing ovation was being given. I couldn't see my face, but I have to imagine it was turning at least a little red. Turning back to the staffers, we were each give a small plaque to commemorate our victory.

One of the staffers pulled us aside. "Remember I said there was someone here that you might be interested in meeting?"

Dylan and I both nodded.

The staffer jerked his head to our right. Heading towards us was an older man. He had a full head of gray hair but his prominent eyebrows were jet black. When he got up to us, he stood just a few inches shorter than us. I noticed his white lab coat when he extended his hand to shake ours. I heard Dylan take a deep breath and step back.

"Hello there gentlemen," he said in a creaky voice. "I'm Professor Oak. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Involuntarily I copied Dylan's deep breath as I shook his hand. I was shaking hands with THE pokemon expert. Professor Oak was known world-wide for his work in the field of pokemon behavioral sciences and for one of the best pokemon researchers possibly ever.

"It's, uh, a pleasure to meet you too, sir," I replied slowly.

Dylan shook his hand next. His eyes were as wide as mine.

"Might I see your treecko for a moment?" the professor asked me.

I fumbled the poke ball getting it off my belt. I released Treecko and it looked around, somewhat confused. Once the pokemon saw Oak, it immediately perked up. The small green pokemon raised a hand up as if to say hello.

"Hello there Treecko," said the professor. "It's been a while. Have you been well?"

"Tree! Tree-cko!" Treecko responded.

"It would seem your pokemon has given you the vote a vote of approval," Oak smiled at me. "You handled them very well during your matches today."

The wheels were slowly turning in my head. "Wait a second… you were the one who taught Treecko how to use bullet seed!"

Oak laughed. "That's correct. Treecko spent a bit of time at one of my research areas. That's where it learned bullet seed. After that was when I gave Treecko to your father. It seems like he waited a while to pass it along."

The wheels had stopped moving. "Wait… you know my dad?"

"Of course," Oak laughed again. "Your father used to be quite the trainer back before he met your mother and settled down. I'm surprised he never told you although this does explain why he called me yesterday. I understand the two of you intend to take the League Challenge?"

We both nodded, still somewhat star struck.

Oak scribbled something down on a piece of paper he had produced from a pocket of his coat and handed it to me.

"This is the address of one of my research facilities here in Michigan. It's about forty-five minutes from here. Why don't you two come see me tomorrow? I can give you some equipment and advice that would be most helpful to you."

"I, uh, we, yes!" Dylan sputtered. "Thank you sir!"

Oak gave us a kind smile. "It's my pleasure. There's nothing greater than sharing the love of pokemon with others."

And with that he was gone.

Dylan and I were both speechless. The top pokemon researcher in the world had just offered to help us. I couldn't even fathom what he might be giving us but I was really excited to get it.

I looked up into the stands and tried to find my parents. Eventually I locked eyes with my dad. He gave me a smug smile. After mouthing the word "later" to me, he and my mom disappeared into the dispersing crowd. I searched for them again but was drawn back into the present by one of the staffers giving me a check for my winnings.

After just a few days of training, I was doing pretty well for myself financially.

"I can't believe your dad knows Professor Oak!" Dylan exclaimed, bringing me fully back. "How could he never have told you?"

"Not sure," I mumbled. "It should be interesting when I finally get to talk to him."

"Do that later." Dylan pulled me along. "Right now we need to go celebrate! We need to appease our legions of fans! Women want us! Men want to be us!"

I started cracking up. Dylan turned out to be more right than wrong though. Our level of popularity had in fact been bumped up. In heading to a local restaurant to celebrate, we drew a fairly large group with us. It was nice to be liked but the attention took a little getting used to. I had to relive my thoughts during the final match at least seven separate times.

A few hours passed. People began getting a little restless and began heading out. Everyone made certain to wish us luck on our quest. We got lots of hugs from the girls too.

It made me think a little as I leaned back in my chair, pretending to listen to the current conversation. Other than decided that we were in fact taking the League Challenge, Dylan and I had done very little other planning. I assumed we would stay mostly in the lodging pokemon centers offered so that only left food, clothes and other various supplies. We had a lot of work to do. I could only hope that Professor Oak would have something that would help with all of that.


	11. Chapter 11

The next day, Dylan and I hit the road for Professor Oak's place in the late afternoon. I was vaguely familiar with the city that his research lab was in so we at least found that fairly easily. Oak was right on when he said it would take us forty-five minutes to get there. We got to the city in that time but we couldn't find his facility anywhere. Eventually we had to stop and ask some directions. It turned out that it was on the very edge of the city.

When we pulled into the driveway, it became very clear why Oak was located on the edge of the city. Simply put, the place was huge. It was easily multiple acres of grasslands, sandy areas, greenhouses and even a beach that touched Lake Michigan. In what seemed to be the center of the property stood a tall white building. It looked to be the main research facility so we parked there.

In the ten steps it took me to get from the car to the front door, I saw six different species of pokemon. I glanced around before we pulled the doors open. There were even more running about in the different terrains. It was surprising how well they all got along.

The inside of the building had a very casual feel to it even though people in professional looking lab coats bustled around. Every room seemed to have a window in it so a person could see the testing or research going on in each one. I wanted to wander but I was afraid I'd get so lost I'd never get out.

A man who couldn't have been much older than us came up to us. "Can I help you two with something?"

"Um, yeah," I replied, scratching at some chin stubble. "We're here to see Professor Oak. He invited us to come see him."

"He wanted to see you?" the man sounded skeptical. "Why would he want to see you?"

"He saw us win some tournaments and was impressed. We said we were going to take the League Challenge and he offered to help us out. Also he knows my dad."

"Ok, that does sound like the professor," the man admitted. "Follow me."

The skeptical man lead us down a series of hallways and eventually outside. We followed him down a worn path to a smaller building out in the fields. It looked much like a miniature version of the building we had just left. Flinging the doors open, we made a quick turn and entered a lab.

"Ah, boys!" Professor Oak greeted us, throwing his arms open. "I was starting to wonder when you'd come!"

We grinned weakly. Both of us were still a little nervous.

"That will be all," Oak dismissed the aide. "What do you think of the place?"

"It's huge," Dylan blurted out. "I never expected anything like this!"

"Ah, yes. It's a bit overwhelming at first." Oak seemed rather pleased with himself. "But you can't study pokemon in a cramped space. They need to be able to roam and act naturally. You can't learn anything from pokemon that aren't acting as they would in the wild."

"So all these pokemon are wild?" I asked. "Isn't that dangerous?"

Oak pointed to a series of poke balls mounted on the wall. "Not all of them are wild. There's a large group at every facility I have that are pokemon that have been captured and are just living here while their trainers aren't using them. As for the wild ones, there is always going to be a certain degree of danger. We have very few incidents though. We have a fairly good relation with most of the pokemon here."

Oak waved us over to a small metal table and chairs. We took up chairs opposite of him. He folded his arms over his body and looked us over.

"So tell me your plans for taking the League Challenge."

I was immediately glad I had brought up this topic with Dylan in the car.

"We're planning to do a lot of walking at first," Dylan started. "Obviously we can't walk everywhere since the gyms are all over the country but we don't want to drive. We decided that we'd miss too much experience if we just skipped over things. When we don't walk, we'll probably take the bus."

I jumped in when Dylan paused. "We were thinking of bringing some tents to sleep in when we're walking. You know, in case we get too tired to make it to a town. When we do make it to towns, about ninety percent of the time we'll stay at pokemon centers so we can conserve money for food and stuff like that."

"So far so good." Oak nodded his approval. "Staying at pokecenters will also help you save money for bus and plane tickets. You can't walk to that water gym in Hawaii. What about pokemon?"

Dylan and I exchanged blank looks.

"Well, we've both already got four," I said slowly. "Catching a lot would be preferable. That way we can change them in and out depending on gym types and such. We'd also have a big pool to draw from when we make it to the League."

"We've still got a lot of stuff to buy though," Dylan added. "We've got big camping backpacks to carry everything in but we still need tents and stuff."

"You'll probably need winter clothes eventually," Oak advised. "Many pokemon shops sell Trainer Gear. It's durable but still easy on a trainer's budget. They have winter coats available. I wouldn't get those until you need them though. Most pokecenters will have laundry available as well. You should make use of that as well."

I made a quick mental note of that. That would let us cut down on how much clothes we packed.

Oak leaned forward and interlaced his fingers on the table. He looked at us both individually and then together.

"It would seem to me that you've got a fairly good grasp on what this journey is going to require. I think you both have the aptitude and the attitude to make excellent pokemon trainers."

Dylan and I beamed. Being told that by a pokemon expert was a feeling like no other.

"I have some things to aid you in your quest. I'll be right back."

The professor stood and left the room. Dylan and I fidgeted with excitement. It wasn't every day that a pokemon authority personally offered to help you out. It was like we had won the lottery.

Oak returned a minute later, two red things in hand. He set one down in from of each of use. They were about the size of a paperback book although not nearly as thick. There appeared to be a small camera eye at the top right of their edges. A screen filled much of the front, below it a small keyboard. A large green button was the on the right edge, around the corner from the camera eyes.

"These are pokedexes," Oak explained. "A pokedex is like a tiny pokemon encyclopedia. Point the camera eye at a pokemon and it will immediately display information about the subject, including attacks the pokemon can learn. No pokemon trainer should be without one. An uninformed trainer is a defeated trainer. They are my gift to you."

I softly picked mine up. It was much lighter than I expected it to be. It couldn't have been more than a pound. I held it like it was the most fragile thing in the world. Dylan was doing the same. Oak let us examine them for a moment before continuing.

"Come with me. We're going to have to go somewhere else for this next part."

Tucking the pokedexes in our pockets, we followed the surprisingly spry old man out of the lab. He lead us out of the building, back towards the main lab building. On the way he asked what pokemon we had already and we told him.

"Far back in the day, it used to be my duty to hand out starter pokemon to kids," Oak reminisced as we entered the building and a lab room. "That ritual has since been suspended but there's no reason I can't revive it for today."

I exchanged wide-eyed, excited looks with Dylan.

"Let's see here…" Oak muttered to himself. He walked up to a long cabinet with a series of drawers. After pulling a few of them open, he removed the poke balls they revealed and placed them on the table in the center of the room. He divided them into two piles. Stepping back to check his work, he waved us over.

"I had these captured recently. They are pokemon that need a good trainer. They need to experience life outside these confined fences. I think you two would be good for that. You can't have them all, though, that would rob you of the joy of catching your own pokemon."

Dylan and I stepped up to the table. My palms were sweating. This was a big moment. There could be anything in those piles.

Oak pointed to the pile on our left. "Dylan, you are to select from this pile. I based these around the pokemon you told me you already have. Your team is not very diverse yet, so I included types that you don't have yet."

He pointed to the pile on the right. "Your team is rather well balanced, Tim. There is a few in there of types you don't have but is more just a collection of pokemon that need a good trainer. Both of you, please pick a poke ball."

My breath caught in my throat. I saw Dylan's eyes dart around, examining each choice. I slowly reached up but hesitated. I saw Oak smiling out of the corner of my eye. He was clearly enjoying this. Dylan closed his eyes and took the first ball he touched. I reached for one, changed my mind, and chose the one next to it.

"Not too painful, eh?" Oak had a rather big grin.

I gave a weak laugh and shook my head.

"Well see what you got!" the professor urged.

We tapped the center button on the balls, growing them to their normal size. With a deep breath, we both tossed the balls into the air.

The pokemon Dylan got was small and mousy looking. It's back was a shinny black and it's underside a tan color. There were five orange spots on it's back which probably served some purpose. It had a long nose over it's small mouth and slitted eyes.

"Ah, Cyndaquil," Oak clapped his hands together. "A fire pokemon. I was hoping that was the one you'd chosen."

My pokemon couldn't have been more different than Dylan's. It was clearly a bug pokemon and one the same color as a storm-clouded sky at that. It stood on two legs with two jointed arms with white claws at the ends. At the top of it's rotund body, above it's yellow eyes, was a massive horn in between two small antenna. It quickly beat it's wings before closing them back up in it's shell.

"Excellent!" Oak exclaimed. "Heracross is a bug and fighting type. This particular heracross was bred from one from a different region so it knows Aerial Ace which is a flying move. It will be a great asset to your team."

I shook my head. "I'm sorry. Different region?"

The professor smiled. "Pokemon experts have the world divided up into regions. Each region has it's specific pokemon and some moves that are only found there. As pokemon from other regions migrate and breed, moves become more widespread. Most heracross in our region haven't met up with ones from other regions yet."

The bug pokemon looked at me closely. The great forked horn on it's head made it only a foot shorter than me. It flexed and locked eyes with me.

"Heracross!" it said.

I looked at the professor. He simply nodded towards the pokemon.

"Heracross!" it repeated and flexed.

I shrugged and flexed back. It seemed to enjoy that.

"Want to travel with me?" I asked it. "I'm going to become the greatest pokemon trainer ever. Want to help me out?"

The bug pokemon's eyes lit up. "Heracross!"

It held up a hand/claw, leaning it in towards me. I blinked cluelessly and looked at the professor. He started laughing.

"Heracross wants to high-five," he chuckled. "I believe that's something your generation is familiar with?"

I held up my hand. Heracross leaned in closer and did in fact give me a high-five. This seemed to be the start of a great friendship. The bug pokemon looked like it was itching to get battling. I liked the enthusiasm.

Dylan and Cyndaquil had hit it off as well, although with far less bizarre bonding. The fire pokemon had clearly taken to my friend as it was snoozing on his lap. I couldn't help but laugh.

"That give you both five pokemon now," Oak broke in. "I'm sure you're both aware that you can only have six pokemon for battles. That doesn't mean you can't carry more in your bags but they aren't eligible for battles unless on your belt or arm carrier. Are you familiar with pokemon transfers?"

I shook my head. Dylan did the same.

"Any pokemon in a poke ball can actually be transported to a different location by converting it to energy. That allows a trainer to not have to carry every pokemon they have if they have somewhere to store them. If you would like, I would be willing to let any pokemon you don't want to carry roam in my facilities. That would let them build up their strength so that if you ever did need them, they would be battle ready."

I was taken aback. "Wow, yeah, that'd be amazing Professor."

"Heracross!" Heracross interjected.

"You don't have to worry about that," I waved the pokemon off. "You'll be staying with me."

The bug pokemon looked extremely pleased.

"I have to admit, I do have a little selfish ulterior motive," the professor admitted. "Any pokemon you send back here, I'll be able to study. By helping you with your quest, you'll be able to help me with mine."

"Is there anything else we can do?" Dylan asked from the floor.

"Use your pokedex to look up all the wild pokemon you see. It records the location where you saw that pokemon at and I can download it later. That could be very helpful in tracking migrations and populations. Also… just keep your ears open for rumors."

"Rumors?" I repeated. "What do you mean?"

"There's long been rumored that there's a Pokemon Sanctuary somewhere in the world," Oak explained hesitantly. "For the longest time, it's been assumed to just be a myth. Recently evidence has been turning up that might prove it's existence. If it does turn out to be real, it would be an amazing discovery. I don't expect you to find anything, but if you do, please report it. I'll give you both my email and phone number so you can report anything or call to get a pokemon sent back to you."

The professor turned to one of the other tables that was in the room. After a moment he produced two pieces of paper about the size of a business card. He gave one to each of us. True to his word, it had his email and phone number as well as the code for the pokemon transfer system.

"Wow, this is crazy," I said. "Thank you so much for all this, Professor. Is there any way we can repay you?"

He smiled. "Just do your best. Catch a lot of pokemon. Don't ever doubt yourself or let anyone tell you otherwise. Most importantly, always listen to your gut. I'm sure your father will attest to that last one."

"That reminds me, how do you know my dad?" I asked as I tucked the paper away. "He never mentioned that he knew you."

"Unfortunately, that story is not for me to tell." Oak started to head for the door. "I believe that's all I have for you boys. Would you like a tour of the facility?"

We scrambled to follow him out the door. It turned out to be a somewhat abbreviated tour. We didn't see much of the outdoors but we couldn't fault the elderly man for not wanting to walk the whole things. He did show us numerous labs and research centers, including one following up on pokemon mythology. When I asked the professor about the mythology lab, he responded that almost all fiction is somehow rooted in fact.

Eventually it came time to say our goodbyes.

"Make sure to keep me updated on your progress," Oak said as he shook our hands.

"We will," Dylan replied. "Promise."

There was a little more lift in our step as we walked back to the car. It was hard not to be in high spirits after spending over an hour with a leading pokemon expert. I would've liked to have spent several more with him, picking his brain about pokemon.

"You know, there's a beach not far from here," Dylan suggested. "We drove forty minutes here. The trip was already worthwhile but why not add some icing on top?"

I had to grin as I gunned the engine. Between the two of us and some convenient road signs, we were able to navigate to the public beach. We were not the only not the only people who had decided that visiting the beach on a sunny day was a good idea. People in bathing suits were all over the sandy shores, the pier and boardwalk.

Out of sheer coincidence, I happened to have a blanket in the trunk of my car. Gathering it up, we found an empty spot on the beach and laid it out. We sprawled out and let out skin soak up the sun. I took a calculated risk and took off my shirt, exposing my pasty complexion to the public.

"Might as well get the first sunburn of the year out of the way now," I responded to Dylan's raised eyebrow. "It's got to happen eventually. Better now then when we're on the road."

"You are wise, old one." Dylan removed his shirt as well.

Reaching into the cargo pocket of my khaki shorts, I fished out my pokedex. I squeezed the green button and it turned on. After tinkering with it for a moment, I found a search function. I typed in "heracross" and started learning.

I had only been reading for a few minutes when a shout broke my concentration.

"Holy crap is that a pokedex?"

I looked up to see a scrawny kid, not more than fourteen, eyes bulging out of his head. He was also one of the few people on the beach paler than me.

"Yeah, it is," I confirmed.

"Oh man! How'd you get one? They're so hard to come by!" he was practically drooling.

"Um, Professor Oak gave it to me."

Dylan started laughing as the kid had a small convulsion.

"THE Professor Oak?" he balked. "I don't believe you!"

"Believe what you want," I gave him a one-armed shrug.

"Ok, now I've got to test you!" the kid produced a poke ball from somewhere. "Let's go!"

I looked around. The beach was pretty clear. "Right here?"

"Come on!"

Standing up, I brushed some loose sand from my shorts. Dylan moved off the blanket and rolled it up. He then moved to stand behind me.

"I'm glad I didn't have mine out too," he muttered.

"You have one too?" I was a little surprised the kid's head didn't explode.

"Yup. The professor recognizes talent when he sees it."

"Ok, you're next then! This guy first though."

I looked back at Dylan. "This kid is insane."

"Yeah," Dylan agreed. "Can't turn down a challenge though."

My eyes darted from side to side. We hadn't drawn a crowd yet but I had a feeling that would change soon. My right hand slid down to my waist. With our location, I felt as though I should use Mudkip but I thought I'd try something new.

"Here we go!" I announced. "Heracross!"

The blue bug pokemon appeared on the sandy beach. It looked really excited once it realized that it was about to battle.

"Staryu, let's go!" the kid shouted.

I hadn't seen this pokemon before so I pulled out my pokedex. It was a brown star with a red jewel in the center of its body. Surprisingly, it stood on two points. My pokedex informed me that it was a water pokemon and most importantly, that it had the ability to heal itself.

"Let's see what you've got kid," I said. "Heracross! Tackle attack!"

"Use tackle, too, Staryu!"

Heracross' carapace split open in the back to reveal a set of wings that started beating quickly. Using the momentum they created, the bug sped across the sand. In a surprising display of mobility, the staryu launched itself at my incoming pokemon. They collided in midair and knocked each other backwards.

"Rapid spin!" the kid shouted.

Staryu began to spin around in a circle almost like a saw blade. Using the momentum from being thrown back, it spun in a large arc and headed back towards Heracross. The spinning pokemon slammed into Heracross, continuing to spin. Heracross held it's ground as it was slowly pushed back.

"That'll be enough of that!" I spat. "Horn attack!"

My pokemon reared it's head back and slammed it's mighty horn down. Staryu was driven into the sand where it was unable to spin.

"Water gun!" my opponent yelled.

The staryu turned one of it's leg/arm appendages and from it's tip came a blast of water. Heracross was knocked back, letting Staryu get out of the sand.

"Tackle!" I ordered. "Get around that water gun!"

Again the wings burst from my pokemon's back and it darted to it's left. I began to see that while it was always going to be strong, Heracross was only going to be fast when it's wings were deployed. Heracross touched down with one foot, changed it's flight angle, and rocketed towards Staryu.

Staryu tried to counter with another water gun. A quick jump in altitude left my pokemon unscathed and still barreling in. Using the higher elevation, Heracross sped up it's tackle and flattened Staryu into the sand once again.

"Get back!" Heracross buzzed backwards as a jet of water cut through the space it had just occupied.

"Use recover, Staryu!"

My eyes went wide. I couldn't allow the water pokemon to regain it's strength.

"Horn attack and quick Heracross!"

Heracross' wings beat so fast as it took off that they blew sand back at me. I spat out a mouthful of grit as I watcher the horn attack hit Staryu right in the jeweled center. I only had a moment before it would recover enough to use recover.

"Up into the sky Heracross!" The bug pokemon flashed up into the sky, not especially high but high enough. "Aerial ace!"

White energy built up and flowed behind my heracross as it blasted down on the water pokemon from above. The bug pokemon was upon Staryu in a heartbeat.

"Heracross!" it screamed as it slammed horn first into Staryu.

The staryu was flung down the beach, nearly fifteen feet. It laid there, the bright red jewel in it's center blinking.

"Staryu, no!" the kid cried and ran over to the downed pokemon.

"Well there's no ref so I'll call it," Dylan shrugged. "Staryu is unable to battle! Victory to Tim and Heracross!"

I waited for a moment as the younger trainer walked over and returned his pokemon to it's poke ball. He had a slightly dour look on his face as he approached me.

"Maybe I do believe you now that Professor Oak gave you that pokedex," he said quietly. "How does your heracross know aerial ace?"

"Oh, it was apparently bred from a heracross from another part of the world," I explained. "I guess pokemon can learn different moves depending on where they're from. Or so Professor Oak tells me."

I could practically feel the hate and envy emanating from this kid. I couldn't really fault him as I'd probably feel the same way if I were in his shoes. After I collected Heracross from the field, Dylan took my spot.

"You still want to battle me too?" he asked.

The kid brightened up. "Yeah! I may not have beat him but I can beat you!"

"If you say so, kid. Oddish! It's your turn!"

"Here we go Staryu!"

"Wait, hold up here!" I exclaimed. "You're going to battle Dylan with the same pokemon you just used? Are you trying to lose?"

The kid gave me a blank stare. "This is a different pokemon."

I gave him a blank stare of my own. "You have two staryu? How does that make sense at all?"

"I'm not trying to win gym battles," he shrugged. "I just carry around the pokemon that I like."

I shrugged as I really couldn't argue with that logic. The battle got underway and I wandered away a bit. It's not that I wasn't interested in watching Dylan battle, I was just sure that he was going to win. I wasn't going to learn anything from that battle.

As I walked down the beach, a small orange pokemon emerged from the water. Six small legs carried it's long shellfish body across the sand. It's body curved upwards where two massive pincher claws attached to the side of it, a little below the eyes. I quickly grabbed my pokedex and pointed it at the new pokemon.

_Corphish, the ruffian pokemon_, it read. A definite water type.

Even though I already had a water type pokemon, I wasn't about to pass up the chance to catch another. Selecting a poke ball from my belt, I released Pichu out onto the sand. The corphish jerked around at the sight of the other pokemon and charged.

"Thundershock Pichu!" I ordered.

Pichu blasted the advancing corphish. The water pokemon staggered for a moment and then kept on charging. It opened it's pinchers wide.

"Thundershock again!" I stepped back from the battle. "Don't let it catch you with it's claws!"

Pichu sidestepped the lunging corphish and shocked it again. This time the wild pokemon at least went to the ground but was quickly back on it's feet. It wasn't looking so eager to battle anymore. Pichu blasted it once more with a more prolonged shock and this time the corphish dropped like a rock.

I produced a poke ball from my pocket and chucked it at the wild pokemon. It bounced off the corphish's tail, converted the pokemon to energy and sucked it inside. The ball dropped to the sand with a thud. The small button/light on the front blinked a few times. The ball twitched once and then fell silent. The light turned off. The corphish was mine.

"Way to be supportive of my battles."

I turned to see Dylan standing behind me with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. He shook his head at me.

"What am I? Your mom?" I sneered. "I kind of had a feeling you'd beat that kid. Especially when you had that type advantage."

Dylan just laughed. "Come on, let's roll. We attracted some attention with those battles. If we don't leave soon, we might have to battle half the beach."

I nodded my agreement and picked up my shoes. Dylan grabbed his and the blanket we had been using. We almost made it to the parking lot when we were stopped again. This time it was by a pair of twins, a boy and a girl.

"We saw you beat Jimmy!" the girl accused. "He's our friend! We're going to beat you both!"

"If you want," Dylan shrugged. "We'll give you a chance to reconsider."

They two kids paused for a moment and then regained their determined demeanor.

"Hey, did that last kid ever pay us?" I randomly changed the subject.

"He only had two bucks so I told him not to worry about it," Dylan replied. "I'm not going to have a reputation of taking money from little kids."

"Hey, forget about him!" the boy barked. "You've got to deal with us now!"

Pushing up my glasses, I rubbed the bridge of my nose. These kids were getting on my nerves. Without thinking, I grabbed the first poke ball on my belt.

"Come on," I sighed. "Let's take care of them. Charmander, go!"

Dylan replied by releasing Totodile. "Really? A fire type on a beach? Good thing I'm here to watch your back."

"Let's do this, sis!" the boy shouted. "Go Kecleon!"

Before the pokemon had even formed on the field, I had my pokedex out because I was clueless. It was a green lizard that stood on two feet. There was a red zigzag stripe across it's belly and a long tail rolled up against it's back. Two crests rode along it's elongated head. My pokedex identified it as "the color swap pokemon" and a normal type. I was about to read more when the girl released her pokemon.

This pokemon appeared to be a walking plug, it even had the two prongs on top of it's head. It was coated in yellow fur with black stripes. Two arms with thick forearms jutted out from it's body.

"Come on Elekid!" the girl joined in.

"And you made fun of me for using a fire type," I taunted Dylan. "Good thing I'm here to watch your back."

"Shut up and battle," he shot back. "Totodile, use water gun on Kecleon!"

The little alligator pokemon immediately perked up and blasted the lizard pokemon. In the loose sand, it was shoved back several feet by the force of the water.

"Charmander, use flamethrower on Elekid!" I ordered.

"Elekid, counter with light screen!" the girl shouted.

The electric pokemon began waving it's arms about. At first I thought the attack had failed. Then I saw Charmander's flamethrower slam into an invisible wall. Elekid stood there, unharmed, and looking rather pleased with itself.

"Where did Kecleon go?" Dylan roared. "It was there just a second ago! I was looking right at it and it disappeared!"

I snapped my head over to see Dylan frantically looking about our sandy battlefield. I had seen him concerned during battles before but right now he was flat out worried.

That's when Elekid struck.

"Double thunderpunch!" the girl cried.

Elekid charged straight at our distracted pokemon, lightning crackling around both fists. Swinging with it's left, it punched Charmander in the face with a crack of electricity. With it's right, the power of the electric punch sent Totodile sailing backwards.

"Lick attack!" the boy joined in.

Out of the thin air came a long purple tongue. It swept across the field in a wide arc and smacked both our pokemon in the face.

"Where did that tongue come from?" Dylan snapped. "Find it fast or they're going to pick us apart!"

"You want to battle the electric pokemon alone?" I was highly skeptical of this plan.

"Just do it already!"

I began scanning the field as Dylan sent Totodile after Elekid with a bite attack. Charmander tried to catch it's breath while I looked. My search was coming up fruitless until I noticed a set of footprints in the sand. Footprints that kept appearing. Above the footprints was the red zigzag that was on the kecleon's body.

"There it is!" I yelled. "Flamethrower right in front of Totodile!"

A river of flames roared in front of Totodile. In their midsts, Kecleon became visible again. It also appeared to be barely phased by the fire.

"What… what just happened?" I asked.

"Distract for a moment," Dylan requested as he dug out his pokedex.

"On it. Another flamethrower!"

This time Kecleon seemed even less phased by the flames. The elekid behind it was not so lucky. It took a serious amount of damage. Kecleon stepped in front of it to try and take the brunt of the attack.

"I've got it!" Dylan exclaimed. "Totodile, use water gun on Kecleon and fast!"

The lizard pokemon looked alarmed.

"Use thunderpunch on Kecleon!"

In a strange turn of events, Elekid gently punched Kecleon in the back. A second later, the water gun hit Kecleon in the chest. It finally seemed to take some damage.

"Dammit!" Dylan swore. "Kecleon changes type to whatever move causes it damage last! It's a water type now!"

Understanding slowly dawned on me. That explained how Kecleon, normally a normal type pokemon, had taken a flamethrower without even flinching. We had to somehow get it's type back to fire so Totodile could actually damage it.

"I've got a plan," I assured Dylan, then dropped my volume. "Follow my lead."

I turned back to the battle. "Charmander, use flamethrower on Elekid!"

"Char!" my pokemon screamed as it spewed fire.

Kecleon, now a water type, moved to intercept.

"Water gun, Totodile!" Dylan did as he was instructed.

Kecleon froze in indecision. That indecision cost the pokemon. The flamethrower hit first, barely effective against it's water type. Then the water gun hit home, cutting through the flames from an angle. Now a fire type, Kecleon was horribly weak against the water attack and completely decimated. When it tumbled out of the way, Elekid was exposed to the tail end of the flamethrower. Kecleon was disposed of and Elekid was now almost there.

"Tackle attack!" Dylan gave the order.

Totodile raced in and slammed into the electric pokemon. It stumbled backwards and landed in the sand. It didn't move anymore. The two kids were stunned.

"Are we done here?" I asked as I wiped my brow. "Or do we need to go again?"

The two kids were silent.

"Sorry but your attempt at vengeance is over," Dylan sighed. "It was a valiant attempt though. You almost had us there."

The boy at least met our eyes.

"Look guys, we're going to go," Dylan continued. "We enjoyed the battle and we'll probably be back some time for another round."

The boy finally spoke. "Wait."

He walked forward and extended a hand. In it was a small role of dollar bills.

"We can't take this," I backed away.

"Rules are rules," the boy insisted and stuffed it in my hand. "We'll win it back next time."

When he turned his back, we returned our pokemon to their balls and made a hasty retreat. After almost being defeated by a pair of ten year olds, we didn't have a whole lot of desire to stay at the beach. We jumped into the car and I hit the gas.

After we got back into town, I spent a few hours at Dylan's just hanging out. We knew that we were going to have to be grown up and serious soon so we enjoyed just messing around while we could.

Shortly after the sun had set, I headed home. I tossed my keys on the counter and headed downstairs to our TV room. My dad was still down there despite having to work in the morning. As soon as he saw me coming down the stairs, he shut off the television.

"So," I said as I flopped on the couch.

"How was the visit to Professor Oak's?" he asked.

"I'm guessing you already know."

"Ha, yeah," my dad smiled. "He called me a bit after you left. Said he gave you a heracross."

"Yeah, I've already won a battle with it." This wasn't the conversation I wanted to be having, so I changed the subject. "Enough sidestepping, how do you know Professor Oak?"

"You can never have too much sidestepping," my dad replied cryptically. "Anyways, I've known Samuel for probably forty-something years now."

I did some quick math. "You met him when you were eleven?"

He turned to look at me. "Of course. Who do you think gave me my first pokemon? They still did that back then. Nowadays it's more up to the families to get a kid a pokemon."

We were on the right track but moving a bit slower than I wanted to.

"So… he was kind of like your mentor?"

My dad stretched and rested his hands behind his head. "Yes and no. More friend than mentor. We did a lot of traveling together and caught a lot of pokemon. From what I understand, there's a decent amount of pokemon at his labs that are descended from my pokemon. Samuel thinks Dylan's cyndaquil if a descendant of my former cyndaquil."

This was more like it. Pieces were starting to come together now.

"So why did you give it up?" I urged. I leaned forward. One of our skitty circled around my feet but I ignored it.

"Simply put, I met your mother." He reached down to pet the pokemon at my feet. "Back then there weren't the rules about money that there are today. It was much harder to make a living as a trainer even though I was very good. I basically had a choice: pokemon trainer or be with your mom. Pretty sure you can figure out the rest of the story."

Things had finally fallen into place. It now made sense why my mom had reacted how she had when I had announced my intentions to take the Challenge.

"That's why you gave me Charmander and Treecko," I said slowly. "You wanted me to have the chance to do what you didn't get to."

"That or I just wanted you to have the same opportunity that I did." He patted my knee and got up. "I've got to work in the morning. G'night buddy."

"'Night Dad."

I watched my dad walk up the stairs. He was still my dad but now I saw him in a completely different frame of mind then before. Training was in my blood. I really didn't have a choice but to take the Challenge now.


	12. Chapter 12

For the next few days, I didn't see Dylan at all. We had actually planned it this way. Each of us were going to come up with a list of things we would need for our upcoming journey. We figured that if we worked together, we might get each other going down a certain path of thinking and forget things. Our logic was to make separate lists and then combine them to make a final list.

We finally saw each other on Friday at Dylan's graduation open house. After Dylan, I seemed to be the guest of honor as much of his family wanted to meet his traveling buddy. They were very accepting of me, not that they really had much of a choice.

The next day was my open house and the roles were reversed. Most of my family had previously met Dylan but they still took the opportunity to get to know him better.

Although these open houses were technically celebrating our graduation, they turned more into farewell parties. Both friends and family got a little teary-eyed when we told them we would be leaving in a week. Many gave us even larger gifts, most of them monetary, than they normally would've. We were gifted with a lot of poke balls and almost a thousand dollars apiece.

Sunday rolled around and I was off to another open house at night. I had ridden over with Jen and Carrie, to spend a little more time with them before I left. As the sun disappeared, the party moved outside to where a bonfire was getting prepared.

"Hey, does anyone know what happened to the lighter fluid?" called Katy, our host. "I can't find it anywhere!"

After a few minutes of frantic searching, the lighter fluid never turned up. We were left sitting around a big pile of sticks. It was starting to get cold when Jen nudged me with her elbow.

"Don't you have a fire pokemon?" she asked. "Couldn't it light the fire?"

"I don't see why not," I admitted. "Although I'm not going to let Charmander out just to light a fire. That'd be cruel."

"You can light a fire?" Katy overheard us.

"Well, I can't," I said and released my pokemon. "But Charmander can. Fire it up, Charmander!"

Using a weak flamethrower, Charmander ignited the pile of brush. The flames spread quickly and soon the bonfire was roaring. I patted the empty spot on the log I was sitting on and Charmander came over and sat with me.

"Did you only bring one pokemon?" Katy asked, a perplexed look on her face.

"What? No," I replied. "I have all six of them with me."

"Well let them out! No reason for Charmander to have all the fun!"

I shrugged and did as she asked. I was glad I did because they did all seem to have fun. Pichu got the most attention, going from girl to girl to get it's belly rubbed. Treecko and Heracross sat together, seemingly discussing battle strategies. Corphish was happily enjoying the attention it and Mudkip were getting by putting on a small water show. Charmander seemed content to just sit with me.

"So are you going to do it?" Carrie whispered in my ear.

I was confused. "Do what?"

"Ask Jen out. I know she likes you too."

"No."

Carrie almost fell over in her lawn chair.

"Why not?" she exclaimed. "You're passing up a great opportunity!"

"I know and I'm probably going to regret it." I looked down at Charmander and got a reassuring nod. "I'm about to leave for like ten or so months. I can't start a relationship now. It'd be doomed to fail. We'd be together for five days before it turned into a long distance relationship. When I come back, then I'll give it another go."

"Promise?" asked a different voice.

Jen was leaning around Charmander, smiling.

"That's a promise I can make. Charmander can be my witness."

I only lasted another hour at the party before I began to get drowsy. After saying my goodbyes, I collected my pokemon and headed out with Carrie and Jen. Jen gave me a quick kiss on the cheek as they dropped me off. Life was certainly better since I became a pokemon trainer.

Monday afternoon, Dylan and I got together at my house to share our lists. Turns out we had still come up with very similar lists. We were able to narrow them down by a few items and then made a shopping list. We had sleeping bags and tents already as Dylan's dad was an avid camper and had agreed to let us use some along with a GPS unit. Food that wouldn't spoil topped our list followed by new shoes that were made for serious walking.

A trip to the local superstore provided us with most of our supplies. Food, flashlights and shoes were now all taken care of. A trip to the pokemon center covered our need for healing items. We were also able to get pokemon trainer cards that would identify us as trainers and could keep an electronic record of our gym victories.

Only one thing remained to do before we could start our journey.

"Come on," Dylan said, waving me towards him. "Let's go."

"Go where?" I asked, confused. We were already at the park for some reason.

"We've got to battle once more," he explained. "To mark the occasion of us leaving. We leave tomorrow so it's got to be today."

I pulled myself up off the swing set. "So be it. Let's go."

Dylan pulled a coin out. "Call it in the air. Winner gets to choose the number of pokemon and the loser has to send the first one out."

"Heads."

He caught the coin and slapped it onto the back of his hand. "Nope. Tails. Three pokemon each."

I grimaced. I was much better off when I was able to react to whatever Dylan sent out. Having to make the first pick put me at a large disadvantage. I decided to make the best of it and see where it got me.

"Heracross! Let's go!"

"Using our new pokemon are we?" Dylan asked. "Well, I'm not one to disappoint. Cyndaquil, go!"

This was the match up I had expected. There was no way Dylan was going to pass up the chance to have a type advantage over me, as no trainer ever would. I just had to hope that my pokemon was better. The flames that sprouted from the orange spots on Cyndaquil's back did hurt my confidence a little.

"Heracross, tackle attack!" The bug pokemon started racing across the field.

"Use tackle as well!" Dylan ordered.

Dropping down to all fours, Cyndaquil began racing forward as well. The fire pokemon leapt up at Heracross, only to be body-checked across the field. Heracross was much stronger than Cyndaquil.

"Good work, Heracross," I praised. "Now use fury attack!"

The wings burst from the bug pokemon's back and it tore across the grass. In a blur of motion, it unleashed a series of strikes with it's claws. After taking a few hits, Cyndaquil was finally able to dance away.

"Flame wheel!" Dylan shouted.

The flames on Cyndaquil's back overtook it's body as it began to run. It was now a running ball of fire.

"Fly up!" I yelled. "Don't let Cyndaquil touch you!"

"Heracross!" the pokemon replied and took the skies.

Cyndaquil skidded to a halt, flames diminishing.

"Ember!"

The flames flared up again as the fire mouse bent forward. A series of flaming embers shot out of the flames and found their mark up in the sky. Heracross screamed and started to drop from the sky.

I wasn't about to lose now. "Hang in there! Turn it into aerial ace!"

Heracross' eyes snapped back open as did it's wings. The white energy began to flow from it's body as it gained control of it's fall. It's speed picked up drastically as the bug pokemon altered it's course straight for Cyndaquil.

"Dodge it Cyndaquil!" Dylan shouted.

"No way!" I waved my hand out to the side. "Maximum speed Heracross!"

My pokemon picked up the pace even more. Cyndaquil was flattened before it even had a chance to react. Heracross spun around and landed on it's feet. The momentum it had caused it be keep sliding on the ground, leaving a trail of turned up dirt.

I pointed at the downed fire pokemon. "Finish it off! Horn attack!"

"Ember!" Dylan tried in desperation.

Cyndaquil had landed on it's stomach so it's flames were still exposed. The hail of fiery embers began again.

"Don't let that stop you!" I ordered. "Plow on through!"

"Heracross!" it screamed as it flew through the fire storm. Jerking it's head to the side, Heracross caught Cyndaquil full force with the horn attack. The fire pokemon flew through the air and bounced a few times on the ground before it lie still.

"Hera…cross," the bug pokemon panted as it flew back over in front of me. It was clearly exhausted.

"I've got to admit, I'm a little surprised," Dylan said as Cyndaquil was returned to its poke ball. "I thought the fire might have stopped Heracross."

"I think Heracross is a little higher level than we might've realized," I admitted. "Also, I wouldn't have even tried that if there was something on the line besides just this match. Against anyone else or for anything, probably wouldn't have tried it."

Dylan nodded. "Probably a good idea. Your pokemon seems rather tired."

"It's still a learning experience. This is only our second battle together."

"Touché. Totodile, you're up!"

I was pretty sure I heard Heracross groan as it saw all the energy that Totodile brought with it. Flying through the ember attack had clearly taken a serious toll on the bug pokemon. I'd definitely have to avoid it in the future.

"Let's do this, Heracross!" I encouraged my pokemon. "Horn attack!"

My pokemon lunged forward but Totodile simply danced out of the way. We tried the attack again but with the same result.

"Water gun!" Totodile speared Heracross out of the sky with a well-aimed water gun. Heracross crashed down to the ground. The bug gave it's best shot to try and get back to it's feet but ended up collapsing. I recalled it to it's poke ball.

I decided on my next poke ball. "Come on, Pichu!"

"What happened to learning experience?" Dylan asked.

"This is called battle experience," I countered. "Also important. Thundershock!"

Pichu blasted Totodile, knocking the water pokemon down. I noticed that Pichu's attacks were becoming less effective as Dylan's pokemon were growing. This did not bode well for me.

"Scratch attack!" Pichu's physical defense was not up to par for facing Totodile's furious attack. After a pair of scratches, the electric pokemon was struggling to get back to it's feet.

"Come on Pichu! Don't let Totodile beat you!" This was also quickly turning into a learning experience. "Thundershock!"

This electric attack was more effective than the last. Totodile was heavily charred and breathing heavily. Despite being a pre-evolution, Pichu clearly still had some power.

"Bite attack!"

Dylan's pokemon rushed in and clamped onto Pichu's tail as it was attempting to dodge. With a quick jerk of it's head, the alligator pokemon slammed my pokemon to the ground. It stirred for a moment but then was still. Definitely a learning experience now.

"Your pichu needs to evolve," Dylan commented.

"I won't lie, I like Pichu how it is," I said as I recalled the pokemon. "But I would be totally fine if it evolved. I'm not going to get far with as limited of a move set as it has. Thundershock can only carry me so far."

"Agreed." Dylan nodded towards my belt. "What now? Continue the learning experience?"

I shrugged. "Might as well. Never going to have a better time. It's your turn, Corphish!"

I produced my pokedex from a pocket of my khaki shorts. Even though I had previously read about Corphish's attacks, a quick refresher course couldn't hurt. Dylan allowed me this brief break as he contemplated how best to attack.

"Totodile, water gun."

"Dodge and use vice grip!"

Although it only stood on six tiny legs, they gave Corphish surprising maneuverability. It scuttled to it's left and then charged in. Totodile faced it up and prepared another water gun. Corphish launched itself into the air, right claw open and extended.

"Move Totodile!" Dylan yelled.

It was too late. Corphish got it's claw around Totodile's mouth and clamped down. The alligator pokemon's eyes went wide. It struggled to free itself but there was no breaking the grip of Corphish.

"Throw it to the ground!" I ordered.

"Cor-phish!" my pokemon bellowed in a high pitched voice.

Showing a surprising amount of strength, Corphish heaved Totodile above it's head and slammed it into the ground. Totodile hissed in anger. Corphish responded by whipping it over it's head and slamming Dylan's pokemon to the ground again. This time there was no noise coming from Totodile.

I grinned. "Now _that_ was impressive. A little more power there than I had expected."

"You're telling me," Dylan said with a grimace. "I'll put an end to that, though. Go, Oddish!"

My mouth scrunched itself up. I knew that Oddish would be Dylan's choice. He wasn't about to bring Gyarados out for a simple battle like this but still wanted an edge. A basically untested corphish versus his battle-proven oddish was exactly the match up that he wanted.

"Bubble!" I shouted, determined to make Dylan work for his victory.

"Shield yourself with your leaves!"

Corphish spat a steady stream of bubbles that simply sprayed off of Oddish's leaves. I knew the attack wouldn't do much good but that's why Corphish was slowly advancing as it poured on the bubbles.

"Now!" I exclaimed. "Use vice grip!"

"Cor!" Corphish lunged forward. With it's left claw, it grabbed Oddish right above the base of it's leaves. Suddenly we were in the driver's seat.

"Slam it around!" I ordered. "It worked once and it can work again!"

With a little more ease this time, my pokemon smacked the ground with Dylan's pokemon. Oddish tried to fight back but they way Corphish was holding it, the grass pokemon couldn't get off any attacks.

"Sleep powder!"

My eyes went wide. "Let go of Oddish!"

Corphish's iron grip came with a price. With a grip that tight, it took a moment to release. A moment was all Oddish needed. A white powder came sprinkling out of it's leaves and onto Corphish.

"Fight it Corphish!" I yelled.

The lids of my pokemon's eyes were already drooping. It's muscles started to relax and Oddish slipped free. Corphish's eyes closed completely and the pokemon slumped to the ground. Apparently Corphish snores when it sleeps.

"I'll go ahead and concede this one," I said as I recalled Corphish to it's ball. "Nothing more can come of this and I don't want to watch Oddish drain my pokemon."

"Sore loser," Dylan chided.

"Hardly. I could've insisted that we continue on in the event that Corphish wakes up. Instead, I accepted defeat so we can move on."

"Right. Whatever you say," my friend scoffed. "So speaking of moving on, I think I've got our course plotted out for tomorrow."

I sat back down on the swing set. "You have a map so I can see it?"

Dylan shook his head and pulled a small device out of his pants pocket. "'Fraid not. I have a GPS instead. It can plot our courses for us and even give us estimated arrival times so we don't get burned if we try to estimate when we'll get somewhere."

"I like the thought of that. Will help make decisions about when to leave easier."

"Agreed," Dylan nodded and touched a few buttons. "There's no way we can make it to the gym in Detroit in one shot. I figure we go to Lansing, spend the night and then go to Detroit. We won't overexert ourselves in the first day that way too."

I rocked back in forth in the swing as I thought about it and waited for him to continue.

"Luckily, my dad is heading out to Clarksville for business tomorrow morning. He's agreed to give us a lift to there. After that we're on our own."

After some quick mental calculations, I spoke. "That'll cut down quite a bit of travel. Like five hours of walking?"

"Close enough," Dylan hit another button on the GPS. "It's still going take us around eleven or twelve hours to get there. Maybe even thirteen if you factor in rests and eating and possible pokemon catching."

I grimaced. That was half a day spent on the road. Luckily we had almost a year to complete this journey. Dylan was thinking the same thing.

"This year's Pokemon League Tournament just started," he said. "That's gives us just under a year to get all eight badges if we plan to be in next year's tournament. I think as long as we budget our time wisely and take a couple buses now and then, we should make it with time to spare."

"Yeah, we're going to have to take some buses and at least one plane ride," I agreed as I stood up. "There's no way we're walking from Chicago to New Jersey. That'd take us like fifteen days minimum."

"I've got a map of all the major bus routes packed already," Dylan told me as he got up off his swing too. "I'm working on finding short trips we can take that will get us a bit closer but still be cheap and give us a chance to walk and catch pokemon."

"You've got this pretty well thought out."

"Never hurts to be prepared."

I couldn't argue that thought. We left the park and headed back to our houses. I brought my traveling pack over to Dylan's and we went through everything. Running down our list of things we needed to pack, we doubled checked that everything was in our bags down to changes of underwear. We had everything we would need until we hit a cold climate when we'd have to invest in winter coats. To stave those purchases off, we had both packed our UnderArmor, which would help keep us warm until then.

"I think we may have everything," Dylan said slowly. "I can't think of anything else right now."

I nodded my agreement. "Toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo and soap. Underwear and socks. We've got about everything we can pack. I've got my iPod and charger too. You know, for mood music before big matches."

"That does seem like everything." He extended his hand to shake mine. "We're ready to go."

"Game on." I shook his hand.


	13. Chapter 13

The next morning, Dylan and his dad picked me up at five in the morning. I had said my goodbyes to my family the night before so I just ran out the door. I tossed my backpack into the seat next to me in the back and we were off.

The drive to Clarksville was short. We pulled into a warehouse and unloaded. After a quick goodbye to Dylan's dad, we were on the move. Dylan's GPS gave us our heading. It lead us to a small path that seemed to lead out of town and past all the major roads. It was a road that trainers before us seemed to have taken as well. Neither of us were morning people, so the first part of the walk was quiet.

"You watch any of the Tournament last night?" Dylan asked, finally breaking the silence.

"Just a little," I said with a yawn. "I caught that epic battle between the nidorino and gengar though."

"Yeah, that turned out to be more of a battle than I would've expected."

That was all we said for a time. As the sun continued to climb, so did our energy levels. Our pace picked up slightly and so did our conversation. Dylan's GPS estimated that we would get into Lansing somewhere around seven at night at our current pace. The competitor in us wanted to try and move up that ETA but we knew it would tax us far too much if we tried.

Our path lead us through grassy fields and into a large wooded area. Big oak and pine trees lined our path. The sounds of life circulated throughout the air.

"I say we take a pokemon break," I said, stopping. "There's got to be at least a couple out there."

"I'm game," Dylan agreed with a look around. "You go right and I'll go left. Go in a straight line and don't go far. You've got your phone right? In case you get lost."

"Jeez, you're worse than my mom! I've been out in the woods before. Meet you back here in ten."

We slipped apart and headed into the trees. I took a few quiet steps, not that the scattered grass patches were going to create much noise. After maybe thirty seconds of walking, I found a pokemon. It was a small brown bird, perched up on a branch a few feet above my head. My pokedex identified it as a pidgey. I already knew that but I still scanned it for Professor Oak.

I slipped a poke ball off my belt and into my hand. "Go! Pichu!"

The pidgey snapped it's head towards me. It flapped it's wings and jumped into the air.

"Quick, thundershock!" I ordered. "Don't let it get away!"

Getting away wasn't in the pidgey's game plan. It swooped around a tree and came barreling in on Pichu. My pokemon was having none of it. Pichu hunched over and blasted a streak of lightning at the flying pokemon. The electricity wrapped itself around the bird pokemon and it fell to the ground.

"Give it a thunder wave!"

Pichu zapped the bird with it's blue lightning, paralyzing the pokemon. Sparks crackled around the pidgey as it tried to move. I pulled an empty poke ball off the second harness I had on my belt and threw it. It bounced off the pidgey, sucked it inside and fell to the dirt. The ball twitched for a moment before going still.

"That was easy enough," I said to Pichu as I went to retrieve the ball.

I reached down to pick up the poke ball when a white light over my shoulder caught my attention. Whipping around, I saw Pichu engulfed in the white light. Despite being completely covered, I could see my pokemon changing. It's ears thinned out while it's limbs and body filled out. It's tail grew into the shape of a lightning bolt. When the light faded, I could see that it still had the red spots on it's cheeks and now had a trio of stripes on it's back.

"Pikachu!" the newly evolved pokemon introduced itself.

"Well what do you know?" I laughed. "I got a two-for-one deal!"

Recalling Pikachu to it's ball, I couldn't wait until I got to test out it's power. It had been quite strong when it was a pichu so I could only assume that evolving would increase it's power by a bit.

I waded a little further into the forest. I knew there had to be more pokemon here but the previous battle seemed to have sent most of them into hiding. With a shrug I turned and headed back to the path. I had beat Dylan back so I leaned against a tree to wait. I could see him coming through the woods a moment later.

"Find anything?" he asked when he got closer.

"Yeah, I caught a pidgey and my pichu evolved," I replied as I handed him one of the granola bars I had dug out of my bag.

"Nice!" he said as he tore open the snack bar. "I caught a caterpie and wurmple. Found them one right after the other."

"Lucky. I wish I could've found another."

With our side quest complete, we were on the move again. The sun was overhead now, making us regret walking in June. We applied some quick sunscreen and kept up our pace. Dylan checked our location to discover that we were making our way through Portland and were making good time. Soon our path was winding through rolling fields of tall grass. Another good place to catch pokemon.

"Same plan as last time?" I asked.

"Worked pretty good last time," Dylan shrugged.

Separating again, we searched out wild pokemon. Pushing aside the tall grass, I wasn't having much luck. Glancing at my phone clock, I saw that I only had a few minutes left so I turned back. That was when I almost tripped over a pokemon.

"Saur!" it exclaimed.

I looked down to see a small blue-skinned pokemon that I recognized from experience as a bulbasaur. It seemed very interested in me. I crouched down so it could see me better. The grass pokemon reared back on it's hind legs and plopped it's front feet up on my knees. It sniffed at me and grinned. It then pointed at one of my poke balls.

"Saur!" it said.

"You want to come with me?" I asked, a little confused.

"Bulba-saur!"

"Well ok," I shrugged and held out an empty poke ball to it.

It swatted it away, adding to my confusion. Things became clear when it pointed to the poke balls on the right side of my waist. The ones with pokemon in them.

"Ah, you want to battle!"

It jumped back in excitement. It was a peculiar pokemon but I definitely wanted it on my team. I figured a battle of grass pokemon would be a good way to introduce it to the team.

"Treecko! Battle time!"

Treecko emerged and instantly the bulbasaur started talking to it. They conversed for a moment or two and then Treecko gave me a thumbs-up. I shook my head. I certainly had unique pokemon to say the least.

"Pound!"

My pokemon raced in on the wild pokemon and swung it's tail. The bulbasaur took the blow head on, the impact shoving it back a few feet. It then raced forward and delivered a tackle attack. Treecko fell back and quickly recovered.

"Bullet seed!" I ordered.

As Treecko started firing, the bulbasaur dove into the tall grass. With no target, Treecko stopping spitting seeds. Without warning, two long vines snaked out of the grass and wrapped themselves around Treecko with alarming speed.

Bulbasaur emerged from the grass. I could see that the vines were coming from the base of the bulb on it's back. The vines flexed and started lifting my pokemon into the air.

"Bullet seed again!"

This time the wild pokemon couldn't hide. The seeds rained down but didn't cause a whole lot of damage since it was a same typed pokemon. It did, however, buy me a second to think.

"Grab the vines!" I shouted. "Grab them and use absorb!"

Wrenching it's hand around, Treecko grabbed onto the vines and the rainbow shimmer engulfed them. The surprise on the bulbasaur's face was obvious. It dropped my pokemon in a hurry.

I pointed at the wild pokemon. "Quick attack!"

Treecko blazed through the grass and slammed into the bulbasaur. It tumbled back and onto it's back. I saw it's legs flailing and I knew it was our moment to strike.

"Hit it with pound!" I ordered.

Jumping up, Treecko flipped head over heels and brought it's tail down with all the force it could muster. The bulbasaur let out a cry and I knew the battle was over. I threw an empty poke ball and watched the bulbasaur get sucked in. The ball twitched once. It was quiet after that. It had been an interesting battle but it was a productive one at least.

New pokemon in hand, I returned to the path we had been following. I found Dylan already there. He was tossing a poke ball up and down to himself. His eyes lit up when he saw me.

"You'll never guess what I caught," he grinned.

"Bet what I caught is more exciting."

"Doubtful," he scoffed. "Check it out."

He tossed the poke ball to the ground where it popped open as I did the same. When the two pokemon formed, I stared laughing. Next to my bulbasaur stood a mirror image of the pokemon except that instead of blue skin, it had green. The two pokemon looked at each other and grumbled.

"Wow, what are the odds that we both catch a bulbasaur?" I chuckled.

"Actually probably pretty good," Dylan said as he jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "I saw another one on my way back to the path."

I glanced down as the grumbling pokemon had turned into growling pokemon. For whatever reason, our bulbasaur did not seem to like each other. Mine backed up a few steps and lowered it's front end like it was going to charge. Dylan's reared up on it's back legs.

"Ok, apparently our bulbasaur can never hang out." I returned Bulbasaur to it's poke ball before things got interesting.

Dylan did the same. We got our bearings and started down the path again. Far off in the distance, we were pretty sure we could make out Lansing. As we got closer, the city actually turned out to be Grand Ledge. Regardless of our failure to properly identify cities from far away, we were still pleased with our progress. Our misidentification also inspired Dylan to make sure we were still on the right path.

We veered off our path to head into the city. Swinging into a local sandwich shop, we got our first real meal of the day. As we stuffed our faces with food, we realized that we had waited far too long for a real meal. We were back on the road after a quick bathroom break.

The sun was slowly starting it's decent as we able to see what we were sure was Lansing this time. Despite an uneventful break to catch pokemon, we were on pace to reach the city in just barely under thirteen hours. The way our legs were burning made us wish we had taken a little more time though. A billboard with a built in clock was just passing seven as we walked into town.

"Wow, I can not wait to sleep tonight," I said, rubbing the back of my neck. "I'm pretty exhausted."

"Don't pass out on me yet," Dylan taunted. "We just got here. We've still got to find a pokemon center."

"We should probably just ask someone instead of wandering about."

In spite of my excellent idea, we wandered through Lansing for three quarters of an hour until we happened upon a park. There was quite a few people there even though it was starting to get late. We decided to see if any of them could give us directions.

"You guys look a little lost," said a voice behind us.

We turned around to see a guy and a girl standing there that looked probably around our age. The guy was a few inches shorter than me and the girl a few shorter than him. The guy had his hair cropped pretty close to his head and a stubbly beard. He wore a white t-shirt and cameo pants. The girl had long dark hair that almost matched her black shirt she had on above her jeans. They both seemed like pleasant people.

"So am I right?" the guy asked.

"Uh, yeah, we just got into town," I answered. "Any chance you can direct us to a pokemon center?"

The girl's dark eyes suddenly crackled with excitement. "Oh my gosh! You're pokemon trainers! So are we! We should battle!"

"Normally we wouldn't turn you down but we need to heal our pokemon," Dylan explained. "We've been on the road since early this morning."

"Wait, you walked here?" the guy's eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"We're taking the League Challenge."

"Well no shit. We were going to do the same." he extended his hand. "Name's David. This is my girlfriend Vanessa."

We introduced ourselves.

"Come on, we can take you to the center," David said, waving for us to follow him. "It's not far from here."

"You have to battle us afterwards!" Vanessa chimed in.

I shrugged. "Yeah, that's cool."

"So you guys been trainers long?" David asked as we walked.

Dylan barked a short laugh. "Maybe like a month. We just like to think that we have a knack for it."

"Fair enough," David shrugged. "We've only been serious trainers for a month or so too. We only recently decided to take the Challenge, though. We were planning to head out in the next day or so."

"Wednesday," Vanessa corrected. "There's that thing at the park tomorrow, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Forgot about that."

I cracked my neck quickly. "What's at the park?"

"Um, basically it's a tournament thingy," Vanessa replied. "We thought it'd be good experience since we only have a couple pokemon. We need them to get strong."

"Tomorrow at the park," I repeated. "We might have to look into that."

We rounded a final corner and our quartet arrived at the pokemon center. It wasn't quite the social center that the one in Grand Rapids had been but there were still trainers bustling about. Dylan and I passed off our pokemon to a nurse to get them healed. David and Vanessa joined us in the waiting area.

"Looked like you guys had quite a few pokemon," David noted as we waited.

"Yeah, we caught a few on our way here," Dylan replied with a yawn. "I think we both had five already when we left Grand Rapids. Oh, hey Tim, don't forget to send out updates. We were supposed to let people know we made it here."

I pulled out my cell phone. "On it."

I tapped out a text message and fired it off to our parents and a few other friends. Putting the phone away, I considered pulling out my laptop.

"Think I should send the professor an email?" I asked Dylan.

"Nah, not yet. Wait until we get to Detroit or win a badge. He's a busy guy. Don't want to bother him that often."

"You keep in touch with one of your professors from school?" Vanessa gave us a weird look. "That's… cool, I guess.

I laughed. "No, he's not from school. He's, um, well… I guess he's a friend of the family?"

"Just say it, man," Dylan smacked me on the shoulder.

"Hey, we don't need to go throwing his name around," I snapped. "I want to do this on my own merit, not because of who I know."

David and Vanessa exchanged a look. I wondered if they might guess who we were talking about. The wheels were clearly turning in their minds.

"Telling them isn't going to change anything!" Dylan protested. "They aren't going to let you beat them because of who we know. If anything, they'd try harder if they knew where we got some of our pokemon."

I could see that our companions were really confused now. Apparently it wasn't common knowledge that Professor Oak had a laboratory compound in Michigan. Dylan did make an interesting point.

"My dad is friends with Professor Oak," I blurted out. "He's kind of helping us. He gave us pokedexes and a pokemon."

Vanessa had what appeared to be a small spaz attack and fell off her chair. She tried to say something but was too excited to form actual words. She eventually threw her hands up in the air to indicate she was excited.

"I second that," David laughed. "I can see why you were hesitant to say anything. That's a pretty big deal. Not everyone can say they're backed by Professor Oak."

"I think it's more of a favor to my dad than anything," I said, leaning back in my chair. "They used to be pretty good friends, I guess."

The nurse appeared over Dylan's shoulder with our pokemon. We thanked her and took our pokemon. I placed the six that would comprise my team in the holster on the right side of my belt. I tucked the other two into a side pocket of my backpack. I planned to eventually send them to Professor Oak when I figured out a good lineup.

"So let's battle now!" Vanessa was practically jumping up and down now.

I looked at Dylan and shrugged. "I'm game."

He nodded and we followed David and Vanessa out of the pokemon center. After they had a brief discussion, they lead us back to the park. It was definitely a good place for a pokemon battle. Lots of wide open spaces and not far from a pokemon center.

"So how we doing this?" Dylan asked. "Doubles battle or one-on-one?"

"I vote for singles battles," I gave my input. "We can battle with two pokemon."

"Yeah, I'm not a fan of doubles anyway," Vanessa agreed.

"I'll cast my vote for singles too then," David said. "Make it an easy decision. How do we decide the match ups?"

Dylan dug into his backpack in response. From it he produced a deck of playing cards. He pulled out two black cards and two red. He put a black and a red in one hand and the other two in his other hand. Mixing them up, he held them out face down.

"Draw a card." He extended the cards to me. "The two like colors battle. Black cards go first."

I reached forward and picked the card on the left. Three of spades. I would be first. Vanessa chose her card and got a heart which meant she would battle Dylan and I would battle David. We moved further out into the field. I dropped my bag.

"Pick your pokemon ahead of time," Dylan called. "No changing them even if you get a type disadvantage."

We nodded our agreement. Since I didn't really know these people yet, I decided to show that we played fair. I chose my pokemon and held their poke balls, on in each hand, so it would be obvious if I switched them. David saw what I was doing and followed suit.

"Call it in the air, David." Dylan flipped a coin and David called for tails. It was landed heads.

"David will select the first pokemon!" Dylan declared in his best official ref's impression. "Victory will be determined when a trainer loses both pokemon! Or when I say something official sounding like!

Vanessa giggled and the rest of us had to smile. I turned back to David to see him weighing his options. It didn't take him long to decide to go with the poke ball in his left hand.

"Duke, it's show time!"

I recognized David's pokemon instantly despite having never actually seen a mankey up close. The fighting pokemon looked a lot like a giant ball of white fur with a pig nose and long tail. It had two long arms with a trio of brown fingers and two-toed brown feet. It's eyes had a crazed look about them.

It was a powerful pokemon, but I had a powerful one of my own ready. "Charmander, let's go!"

Vanessa squealed. I jerked my head over to look at her and saw Dylan doing the same. She either had a charmander or really liked them a lot. I was betting on both and I could tell Dylan was tucking that information away for his battle.

I turned back to my battle. "You ready?"

"I was born ready."

I couldn't help but grin. "Charmander, ember!"

"Char!" Charmander swung it's tail and unleashed the fiery rain.

"Dodge and use scratch!" David ordered.

The mankey said something and then took a jump back. The ember attack fell harmlessly to the ground. Duke then starting racing towards Charmander, arms held high above it's head. It was faster than I had expected.

"Use scratch as well!"

Charmander bared it's claws and advanced as well. When Duke lunged at Charmander, I immediately realized my mistake. With it's long arms, the fighting pokemon had a much greater reach than my fire type. Duke scratched Charmander across the face before my pokemon could even get in range to attack. The fire pokemon staggered back, tried to attack again and was smacked with another scratch attack.

"Use karate chop!" David shouted.

One furred arm swung back, fingers flattened out.

"Block it with metal claw!" One orange-skinned arm flashed white and began to glow silver.

The two pokemon swung at once, Duke going down and Charmander going up. The two attacks collided, neither having the advantage. Duke was clearly surprised by the use of metal claw to block it's attack, as was David. Charmander's lips curled back to expose sharp teeth as it struggled to maintain the equilibrium of the two attacks. My pokemon was only going to be able to hold on for another few seconds.

"Disengage!" I yelled.

Charmander swung around to the side, moving it's body out of the way and letting Duke's arm continue it's chop harmlessly to the ground. It's hand dug deep into the ground, leaving it's back momentarily turned away from Charmander.

"Flamethrower!"

David's pokemon spun around just in time to get a face full of flames. The fighting pokemon was momentarily lost in the fire but came diving out of it after a handful of seconds. It looked a little crispy.

"That was nice," David commented. "I've never seen karate chop blocked like that."

"I came up with that at a tournament against a machop," I said. "Worked better than I expected."

"Better than I expected too. Duke, fury swipes!"

Suddenly David's mankey was looming over Charmander, arms pulled back. It began raining down unrelenting blows on my pokemon. Charmander tried to defend but it was forced back and down to a knee.

"Smokescreen!" I shouted in desperation.

Charmander blew a giant cloud of black smoke in Duke's face. With zero visibility in the cloud, Charmander was ably to easily sneak away from Duke. My pokemon had sustained more damage than I realized. I could see the fire pokemon was battered and bruised, breathing hard. We had to end it soon or it would be ended for us.

The fire lizard looked at me. It didn't say anything but it didn't have to. The flame on it's tail had tripled in size. Blaze had kicked in.

That's when the mankey came flying out of the smoke, a crazed look in it's eyes.

"Flamethrower!" I yelled. "Full blast!"

Duke leapt up. Charmander reared it's head back. Flames leaked through it's teeth as it waited for just the right moment. Duke came barreling down out of the sky and that's when Charmander struck. The flamethrower had been brewing in it's mouth and burst out with alarming force. It completely encompassed Duke, sending the mankey sailing back through the air.

"Hang in there Duke!" David screamed.

The mankey responded by recovering from the fall to land on it's feet. It was breathing really heavily now. It was also heavily charred. The next attack to land was most likely going to win the round.

"Karate chop!" David commanded.

"Not a chance!" I swept my right hand out to the side. "End it now Charmander! Flamethrower!"

Duke was rushing in at full speed but Charmander was faster this time. The fighting pokemon was awash in a river of flames a few steps before it would've been in striking range. Had Blaze not kicked in to amplify Charmander's fire attack, I don't know if it would've stopped the charging mankey. However, it had and the flamethrower hit Duke like a ton of fiery bricks. With a smoggy cough, the mankey fell to the ground.

"Duke is unable to battle!" Dylan declared from the sidelines. "Charmander is the winner!"

David looked stunned and Charmander look relieved. Duke had clearly been at a higher level than either of us had anticipated. It had been good but we had been better. The stunned look didn't fade from David's face as he recalled his mankey.

"I can't believe you beat Duke," he stammered. "That may be the first time Duke's ever lost."

"First time for everything," I said with a shrug.

I considered trying to keep him talking as I spared a glance at Charmander. The fire pokemon was still breathing heavily. Despite a decent defense, the fire lizard had taken a serious amount of damage. A strong breeze might knock it over at the moment. Unless David used a pokemon that was weak against fire, I was going to have to switch pokemon.

"Ready for round two?" he asked, tossing a poke ball to himself.

I beckoned him to bring it on with one hand. "Let's dance."

"Vlad, you're up!"

Inwardly, I groaned. Vlad was a small blue turtle that stood on two legs with a knobby tail behind it. I recognized it as a squirtle and a water type. Given how well David had raised his mankey, I had no doubt that he had put as much work into his squirtle as well.

"Charmander, return!" I used the laser to suck Charmander back into it's poke ball. "Take a rest. You've earned it."

"What, you don't want to battle fire versus water?" David chided. "That seemed fair to me."

I gave him a devilish grin that made his smile waver. "If you thought that was fair, then this must be too. Treecko, let's go!"

David's smile diminished a little further. His best option was now to try and defeat Treecko as quickly as possible and hope his squirtle still had enough energy to take on Charmander. I was ready to make sure that didn't happen.

"You sure you don't want to send your charmander back out?" he jokingly asked.

"After it rests for a bit, maybe," I replied in all seriousness. "But for now.. Treecko, quick attack!"

"Bubble!"

Vlad opened it's mouth and a huge stream of bubbles came pouring out. They had enough force behind them that they could do damage but not at the speed Treecko was moving. The grass pokemon rocketed through the swarm and right into the chest of the squirtle. It fell back on to it's back, the roundness of it's shell giving it some trouble with getting back up.

"Hit it with pound!" I yelled, pointed at the defenseless pokemon.

"Withdraw!" David countered.

In the blink of an eye all of Vlad's body parts were pulled inside it's shell, greatly boosting it's defense. Treecko just stared at it for a moment. It had originally planned to jump and put as much force behind it's pound attack as it could. With the water pokemon withdrawn like it was, that would do nothing. Instead it opted to smack the turtle pokemon with it's tail towards a nearby tree.

"Ricochet and water gun!" David ordered.

Suddenly Vlad popped back out of it's shell and rotated so it's feet were heading for the tree. It landed on the side of the tree and launched itself back out, into the air. Opening it's mouth, Vlad blasted Treecko with a water gun that knocked the grass pokemon down.

"Now that was slick," Dylan said, crossing his arms. "That's the kind of crap I'd expect from you, Tim."

Vlad landed on all fours as Treecko was getting back to it's feet. It appeared that the advantage was not as much mine as I had previously thought. Despite a type advantage, this would be a more even battle than I expected.

"Bubble again!" David shouted.

"Wait for it…," I motioned for my pokemon to not move.

The bubbles raced through the air. I waited until there was no way Vlad could still see Treecko.

"Bullet seed!"

The seeds tore through the bubbles, rendering the water attack invalid. Vlad had indeed not been able to see Treecko at all. It was totally unprepared and took the grass attack full force, getting knocked off it's feet. From the sidelines, Vanessa gasped.

"Quick attack, let's go!" I commanded.

"Withdraw again!" David countered.

"Don't hit it!" I bellowed as the squirtle disappeared back into it's shell.

Treecko put the brakes on and slid past the prone water pokemon. I was flying by the seat of my pants now. I had no idea what other tricks David could have up his sleeve so I had to get unorthodox to prevent him using them.

"Bullet seed down one of the openings in Vlad's shell!"

With pinpoint accuracy, Treecko fired a line of seeds down the right arm hole in Vlad's shell. I could hear the squirtle squawk in surprise from all the way over where I was. The shell spun itself up and around, taking the attack in it's protected lower back shell. David had clearly trained his squirtle well.

"Jump on, Treecko!" I shouted.

"You can't hurt Vlad from there!" David sneered. "We can wait this out."

I waved my finger at him. "On the contrary… Treecko! Use absorb!"

Treecko planted it's hands Vlad's shell and the rainbow shimmer fell over them.

"Treecko isn't getting anything!" David laughed.

"That's what you think!" I smirked. "The shell is still part of a squirtle. Treecko is still drawing energy!"

David paled just a little. "Water gun!"

Vlad bounced inside it's shell, knocking Treecko loose and flipping itself over. It emerged from hiding and speared Treecko with a well placed water gun before my pokemon could land. The damage on Vlad had clearly been done, though. It was showing fatigue, breathing hard. I had been guessing about the drawing energy through the shell but luckily I had been right.

"Give it a tackle, Vlad!" David shouted. "Give it everything you've got!"

"Counter with pound," I yelled, fully intending not to use pound at all.

The pokemon got within a few steps of each other when David and I both shouted out now commands.

"Bullet seed!"

"Water gun!"

From a distance, the two attacks might have cancelled each other out. At this close range, the went right through each other. The seeds cut straight through the stream of water and the water gun simply went around the bullet seed. Both pokemon were flung from their feet, crashing to the ground. Treecko was quick to it's feet, Vlad was not. The squirtle struggled to stand.

"It's over," I said. "Quick attack!"

Treecko raced in.

"Don't let it near you!" David spat. "Water gun!"

Vlad fired the water blast again. Treecko kicked off the ground one way and then back the other, zigzagging away from the attack and then back in. Vlad was too tired to react. Treecko flattened the water pokemon with all it's might. The squirtle wasn't getting up any time soon.

"Squir… er, Vlad is unable to battle!" Dylan declared. "Victory to Treecko and Tim!"

"Good match," I said to David as I collected Treecko. "You were just unlucky I had a grass type as my second pokemon. Otherwise you might've beat me."

"I appreciate the kindness but you don't have to patronize me." He softened it with a smile. "You beat me and that's all there is to it."

We shook hands.

"I have to ask though," I said, "why is your squirtle named Vlad?"

David looked taken aback. "Well, because Vlad is bad."

I didn't know what to say to that. On one hand, it made perfect sense but on the other hand, it sounded rather crazy. I just merely shrugged in reply.

"We'll have to do this again sometime," David suggested as we walked off the field. "Maybe once we get more established teams."

"Hey, I'm up for another round after Dylan and Vanessa," I nodded towards our two friends. "I've still got more pokemon."

"Don't get ahead of yourself just yet," Vanessa advised. "I want to battle you next."

She then stole David away and they moved a few feet away from Dylan and I, presumably to discuss strategy. Dylan nodded his head to the side and we did the same.

"What do you think?" he asked.

"Well, you saw how she reacted when I used Charmander," I said slowly. "There's a good chance she's got one."

"I did see that," Dylan muttered. "I was planning to go with Totodile regardless, even before I saw that. It's her second pokemon that I'm worried about."

I gave him a strange look. "Why's that?"

"David has a mankey. That's not a common pokemon. I'm pretty sure they're only found in the mountains usually. There's no telling what Vanessa could have."

I digested this for a moment and realized he had an excellent point. "So what are you going to go with? Obviously the bug pokemon you caught and your bulbasaur are out. Personally, I wouldn't use Oddish because we're pretty sure she has at least one fire type."

"Yeah and Cyndaquil only has one battle under it's belt," Dylan said as he scratched a sideburn. "That and water pokemon are pretty common. I guess that narrows it down to Zigzagoon and Gyarados."

"That's all you then," I put my hands up and took a step back. "I don't want to be responsible for picking the wrong pokemon for you."

I moved back over to where David was now standing alone. Dylan and Vanessa took up the spots on the field that we had used for battle. Vanessa was clearly ready to go, fidgeting in her spot. Dylan took a long look in at me and David, then at Vanessa. Finally he selected a second pokemon from his team.

"Call it in the air," David called as he flipped a coin.

"Tails!" exclaimed Vanessa.

David snatched the coin out of the air and slapped it on the back of his hand. "Nope. Heads. You send out the first pokemon, babe."

"Ok! Let's go… Charmander!" she yelled.

Dylan and I exchanged a knowing look. Apparently paying attention to details does work.

"Totodile, it's game time!" he announced.

"That's unfortunate," I said to David as the battle started.

"Yeah, what are the odds?" he shrugged.

"Actually pretty good. She squealed or something when I used my charmander. We figured she probably had one too."

David nodded slowly and pursed his lips. "Good to know. I'm surprised you guys paid that close attention to details."

I laughed. "Yeah, I actually am too."

We focused in on the battle for a moment. Despite having a type advantage, Dylan was not using it. He was keeping Totodile at close range, which I disagreed with. Being up close exposed his pokemon to the only attacks Vanessa's charmander had that could hurt it.

"Bite attack!" Dylan yelled.

"Block it with metal claw!" Vanessa countered.

Totodile clamped down but right onto a set of steal claws, doing more damage to Totodile than Charmander. Using it's other hand, Charmander used another metal claw attack for offensive purposes. Totodile's grip was loosened and it stumbled back.

"Are you serious?" I was laughing hard now. "How did you get caught with that? You've seen me use metal claw exactly like that! Hell, I even did something similar in that last battle!"

If looks could kill I would've died on the spot. David was laughing pretty hard now too. I was about to say something else but then Dylan winked at me.

I froze.

Suddenly I saw the brilliance of what he was doing. He was playing the fool to see how innovative Vanessa was. Unless she had taught her charmander a different move, Dylan had seen me use all of Charmander's attacks. Other than a scratch attack, it didn't have any attacks that could any serious damage to a well-raised pokemon like Totodile.

"Um, what's up?" David asked, having noticed my mouth agape.

I looked at him and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry man, but your girlfriend's pokemon is about to get owned."

"Totodile, water gun!"

The metal claw attack had put some distance between the battle pokemon. The water pokemon perked up and soaked the charmander with a fierce torrent of water. That was when I saw the flaw in Dylan's plan: Vanessa's charmander was still standing.

"I think not," David countered. "She's had Charmander long enough to level it up a bit."

I could see that even though her charmander was still standing, Vanessa's pokemon was not in great shape. It had taken some serious damage from that water gun. It was not just a matter of time before Dylan could seal the deal.

"Get in there Charmander!" Vanessa yelled. "Scratch attack!"

"Finish it off!" Dylan shouted. "Water gun!"

Charmander tried to get out of the way but Totodile's aim was true. This time the fire pokemon wasn't left standing. It struggled to get up but slumped back down to the ground.

I took a step towards the field. "Charmander is unable to battle! Totodile is the winner!"

I stepped back and turned to David. "I don't get it. Why didn't she change pokemon when she saw she had a type disadvantage?"

David merely shrugged. "She's kind of… stubborn. Yeah, that's a good word. She doesn't like having her plans dictated by other people."

"I can respect it but I'm not sure how I feel about it as a battling strategy," I replied.

Out on the field, Vanessa was releasing her next pokemon. It was by far the most common pokemon that had appeared in our battles so far. Her rattata scampered around the field, waiting for it's opponent. Dylan had called Totodile back and was countering with Zigzagoon. Surprisingly, Vanessa looked very confident.

"Use quick attack Rattata!" she ordered.

The small mouse pokemon was literally flying across the field. It slammed into Zigzagoon before it even had a chance to react to Dylan's commands. The larger normal type pokemon bounced surprisingly far back. Rattata was already charging for another attack.

"That's not a normal rattata is it?" I asked David as Zigzagoon suffered a hyper fang attack.

"Not really," he grinned. "She's had it since it was a baby and trained it since then. Not a lot of defense but strong and fast as hell."

Zigzagoon was looking a little worse for ware at that point. It had suffered two powerful, consecutive attacks and was on the move again. Dylan's overconfidence in the previous round was now going to cost him. Zigzagoon wasn't fast enough to keep up with Rattata so now he just had to stall long enough for Totodile to get a little rest.

"Suddenly her strategy to not change pokemon isn't looking all that bad," I had to admit. "This could be the start of an epic comeback."

As if on cue, Zigzagoon connected with a mighty head butt. Rattata sailed through the air and skipped across the grass. David had been right: Rattata was lacking a bit in the defensive area. Zigzagoon was charging but it was already too late.

"Quick attack!" Vanessa yelled.

Rattata leapt up and went barreling into Zigzagoon. Dylan's pokemon was caught off guard and Rattata scored a critical hit. Zigzagoon flopped onto it's back and didn't move. I had to give it to Vanessa, she knew how to raise a rattata.

"Zigzagoon is unable to battle!" David shouted. "Rattata is the winner!"

"Did not see that one coming," I muttered. "Zigzagoon is a pretty solid pokemon."

David looked at me. "Being a trainer is full of surprises."

Totodile was back on the field now and it was sudden death. Vanessa seemed a little hesitant to sent Rattata straight in this time. She knew that Totodile had much quicker reflexes than Dylan's previous pokemon.

"Water gun!" Dylan yelled.

"Quick attack!" Vanessa ordered.

With blazing speed, Rattata ran under the water gun and charged in. There was no time to attack with water gun again. This had the chance to end the match.

"Smack it with your tail!" Dylan screamed.

Pivoting on one foot, Totodile swung around. It's thick tail connected with the side of Rattata's head. The speed of the attack was too much, though, as Rattata still smashed into Totodile. The rolled back a few feet, a big ball of pokemon. They fell apart and it was clear that neither of them were doing so hot.

"Next attack wins," David mumbled.

Rattata launched itself at Totodile with a tackle and right into the water pokemon's waiting jaws. Totodile clamped down hard, getting a solid grip on Rattata's midsection. Vanessa squeaked in fear.

"Slam it," Dylan said coldly.

Totodile jumped into the air. With a snap of it's head, it flung Vanessa's pokemon into the ground. It bounced with a thud. There was only one thing to do now.

"Rattata is unable to battle!" I declared. "Victory to Dylan and Totodile!"

"I want a rematch!" Vanessa demanded. "Let's go!"

"She sure has spunk," I commented to David.

He rolled his eyes. "You have no idea. You'll probably find out soon. She'll probably want a crack at you too."

"I'm game," I replied. "I've still got some pokemon left or we can head back to the pokemon center."

"We've both got two more left," David confirmed. "Hold on a second. Vanessa! You want to fight him again or do you want to battle Tim?"

Her eyes lit up. "Oh! Oh! I want to battle Tim now!"

I laughed. "There's plenty of me to go around. I've got enough pokemon for a few more battles."

Dylan looked up into the sky. "We might not have time for a few more battles. It's getting pretty dark. I'd guess one more each. Maybe two at the most."


	14. Chapter 14

I didn't like it but I had to agree. The sun was starting to dip down below the horizon. He and I didn't want to be wandering around an unfamiliar town in the dark. The next battles would have to be our last.

"We definitely need at least one more," David said. "I want to get my zubat some experience."

I whipped around to look at him. "You have a zubat?"

"Yeah. I call him Al."

"Wait, I thought that zubats only lived in caves."

David pointed out to his left. "There's a cave a little out of town that way. It happened to be flying out as I was going past."

A grin crossed my face. "The heck with battling. We should go check out that cave."

"Remember the conversation you just had?" Vanessa asked. "It's getting dark."

"Exactly!" I exclaimed. "A lot of cave pokemon are nocturnal. Who knows what we might run into there?"

They were all quiet as they thought about this. If nothing else, they knew that my logic made sense and a good trainer never passed up a chance to catch new pokemon.

"Ok, I'm sold," Dylan said. "I need to get some more variety for my team anyway. You guys coming too or you just want to point us in the right direction?"

"Nah, we're coming too," David confirmed. "Come on, we can take my truck."

Sadly, David's truck only had room for two people in the cabin. Dylan and I endured the short ride in the bed of the truck. It wasn't an experience I was really looking forward to repeating but it sure beat walking. It took us about seven minutes to get there.

David's description of the place as a cave was only half right. It was more a small mountain with a cave at the base. My hopes for the types of pokemon contained inside grew. It was really getting dark now. Dylan and I pulled our flashlights from our backpacks and David produced two from his truck. Lights ablaze, we headed in.

"This is kind of creepy," whispered Vanessa. "I can hear lots of movement but I can't see anything…"

We hadn't gone more than twenty feet in when the path we were following opened up wide, almost into a cavern. It seemed that a large portion of the mountain was actually hallow. Setting any hesitations we might have aside, we slowly split apart.

"You know, this would be the perfect time for them to kill us if they were crazies," Dylan muttered to me.

"I don't think they're any crazier than you and me," I said back, trying to muffle my laughter.

"That's what worries me."

Despite a hand over my mouth, one loud laugh escaped. It was that one laugh that really got the place going. A loud racket could be heard above our heads now. Flashing our lights up to see what it was turned out to be a poor plan. A whole cloud of zubats were now heading straight for us.

"Oh hell," I swore as I grabbed a poke ball off my belt. "Pikachu, let's go!"

"Cyndaquil, come on!" Dylan joined in.

The flames on the fire pokemon's back illuminated the cloud of pokemon even more. It was much bigger than I had realized. Hopefully we just needed to scare them away and not battle every one.

"Pikachu, thundershock!"

"Ember!"

Pikachu's thundershock was far stronger than it had ever been when it was still a pichu. The bolt of lightning flashed through the swarm, punctuated by flying bits of fire. Several zubats were struck, a few taking the full brunt of the combined attacks. Most of them fluttered away but a couple still hovered around, clearly dazed.

"Dibs on the one on the right," Dyaln said as he produced an empty poke ball.

I nodded and pulled out a poke ball of my own. We threw them in tandem, Dylan taking the zubat on the right and me one of the ones further to the left. The balls bounced off the poisonous fliers and pulled them inside. The poke balls crashed to the rock ground. By the time we got over there, they had stopped moving.

"That could've been ugly," I sighed.

Dylan grunted.

Across the cave, the darkness was punctuated by a flash of fire. Apparently Vanessa had found some wild pokemon as well. Hopefully not in as large of a group as we just had.

"You see anything else?" I called as I realized we had separated a bit.

"No pokemon but this tunnel gets real steep real quick," Dylan replied. "We might want to beat it for now. I barely saw that. Another step and I'd probably have fallen and broke something. We need to come back during the day."

I frowned in the darkness. I knew my friend was right though. No pokemon was going to be worth the risks that might still be ahead in the dark. Also, the chance of finding a rare pokemon in a cave in Lansing, Michigan was pretty low.

"Hey, we're getting out of here," Dylan shouted over to the others. "These tunnels get really steep. It's not safe in the dark."

"Ok, we'll meet you at the entrance," David yelled back.

Using our flashlights to guide us, we safely made it back to the entrance of the cave. David and Vanessa were right behind us with big smiles on their faces. It seemed that they had gotten luckier than we had.

"Catch something good?" I asked as we stepped out into the open air.

"Definitely!" Vanessa replied. "I snagged a zubat from that swarm of them that you guys ran into and then I caught a cubone!"

"Wait, what?" Dylan spun around. "There were cubone in there? I didn't see any."

"I didn't see any either," David shrugged. "She saw the only one."

Vanessa giggled gleefully while the rest of us just shook our heads. Piling back into David's truck, we headed back into town. Monday nights were apparently very quiet in Lansing when the local university wasn't in session. There wasn't a lot of activity and even less traffic, at least on the outskirts of town. Even the pokemon center seemed a little quiet.

"Thank you," I said to the nurse as I gave her my pokemon that had seen action tonight.

"I guess we'd better stake out some beds here," Dylan yawned. "I'd like to get some sleep. I'm beat."

"You guys want to stay with us?" Vanessa asked. "We're at my dad's place. He has a guest room and a couple of couches. There'd be plenty of room. Besides, we never paid you after you beat us."

I looked at Dylan and shrugged. "Sure, why not? Might as well stay somewhere where we know other people."

"My dad'll make us breakfast too," Vanessa added.

"Sold," Dylan chimed in.

After our pokemon had been returned to us, we once again piled back into David's truck. The drive to Vanessa's place took almost twice as long as it took to get to the cave we had gone to earlier. Her dad's house was close to what I was assuming was the center of the city. Despite being central city, it was a nice neighborhood. The houses and lawns all seemed fairly modern and well-kept.

Vanessa's dad was very accepting of us. He gave Dylan and I pillows and blankets and anything else we asked for. I had no idea what the beds in a pokemon center were like but just the feeling of being inside of a home made the couches far better. We were both asleep in minutes.

Dylan woke me up the next morning around nine. He pointed to a pair of towels that had been left on the end table for us. I gave a sleepy chuckle as I rolled over. I could only guess that this was way better than staying at a pokemon center. After we had both showered, we collected our things and staggered our into the dining room.

David was already out there, toying around on a laptop computer. He greeted us with a sleepy nod of his head.

"Vanessa's still sleeping," he said with a yawn. "Turns out her dad had to work this morning, though. I saw him on his way out. He said to help ourselves to anything in the kitchen."

"Nice, I muttered as I sat down. "Could I use that when you're done?"

"Go nuts."

He slid the computer over to me and I pulled up a web browser. I punched in the website for my e-mail and logged in. I hadn't gotten any new mail in the past day. I wrote a quick message to Professor Oak, asking how he wanted us to go about sending him pokemon and sent it before giving David the computer back.

Dylan emerged from the kitchen with a stack of bowls and a box of cereal. Vanessa stumbled into the room as we were crunching away. She looked really confused for a moment but then the fog cleared from her brain and she remembered who we were.

"So are you guys staying for the tournament thingy today?" Vanessa asked around a mouthful of cereal. "Or are you heading out?"

I looked at Dylan. "We do have almost a year to get all eight badges."

My friend shrugged. "Hey, I'm game if you are. I've got some new pokemon I'd at least like to try out."

"It's later in the day," David said. "I think it's around one. Probably going to be mostly people around our age."

"Wait," I stopped him. "How old are you?"

"We're eighteen."

"Ok, us too. Just checking. Continue."

"I haven't heard if there's any special rules or anything," David continued. "I'm not even sure how many people will be there."

"Hey, experience is experience," Dylan scoffed then drained his juice.

"You really going to try out some new pokemon?" I asked Dylan.

"Might as well," he said with a half shrug. "The bulbasaur I caught put up a pretty good fight. I'd like to see what it can do. Also, Cyndaquil still needs some training."

"How many pokemon do you guys have?" Vanessa asked.

I did a quick mental count. "I think we both have nine. You?"

"I have five, wait, six," she replied. "David, you have five right?"

He answered with a nod.

We finished up our breakfast. After doing our dishes, we moved to the living room to enjoy some television. Dylan pointed out this would probably one of the few times we'd get to watch TV in the next year. Flipping through the morning programming, I didn't think I was going to miss it all that much.

"So why are you guys taking the League Challenge?" Vanessa asked when it became apparent nothing good was on TV.

Dylan explained the story of our agreement while I made quick comments here and there. He then told them of our meeting with Professor Oak.

"That's it?" David questioned. "Just a random coincidence?"

"Well obviously there's more to it than that," I scoffed. "That's just how the journey got going."

"Care to elaborate?"

I paused for a moment. "It's like, you know, you find out something about yourself. You find out that you're good at something, purely by chance. Now I've got to know how good I really am. I need to know how far I can take this. Not just for me, but for my dad as well. He wanted to do this when he was younger but had to bow out. Now he's made sure I have the same opportunity he did and I don't want to let him down."

"See, that's more along the lines of what I was looking for," David smiled, then turned to Dylan. "How about you?"

Dylan shrugged. "Pretty much the same, minus the whole doing it for the dad thing. I'm just doing it to find out if I can. What about you guys?"

"Kind of similar," David said with a shrug. "I come from a blue-collar background so I just want to make something of myself. Don't get me wrong: I love my family and where I came from. I'd be totally happy doing hard work and earning a decent paycheck, but I think I can do more. I want people to recognize me when I walk around. I want people to say 'There goes the best trainer I've ever seen.'"

"What about you?" I asked, turning to Vanessa.

"I wasn't planning on going to college and I'm good with pokemon," she replied. "It seemed like the right thing to do. If training doesn't work out, I can always go into breeding. David's cousin is a breeder down by Chicago. She's pretty good and offered me a job with her if I ever wanted."

A silence fell over us, like we were all considering what we had just said to make sure it was true and what we wanted.

"Don't you just hate those awkward silences?" Dylan shattered the quiet. "Isn't there supposed to be like a minute of awkward silence for every seven minutes of conversation? Something like that?"

"That's just an urban legend," I scoffed. "Like feraligatr in the sewers."

Vanessa clamped a hand over her mouth as she started cracking up.

"Not sure 'urban legend' is what you were looking for," David laughed.

"Eh, whatever. Close enough." I dismissed it with a wave of my hand.

Vanessa got control of her laughter and stood. "We should probably get going if we want to make it to the park before the tournament starts."

We all stood and Dylan and I grabbed our backpacks as we headed for the door.

"You can leave those here if you want," Vanessa suggested. "We can come back for them later. David and I have to come back here later anyway."

We shrugged and left the packs by the door.

"Are you guys planning to do the Challenge mostly on foot?" Dylan asked.

"For the most part," Vanessa replied as we stepped out the door. "We don't really have that big of money supply. Someone was going to give us a lift part of the way to Detroit tonight instead of tomorrow now but after that, it was going to be walking. You guys want to ride with us? I bet there's room."

I looked at Dylan and he at me. They seemed like nice people. Traveling in numbers did have it's advantages. Although more people meant less wild pokemon to go around when we stopped to hunt. The pros definitely out weighed the cons.

"Yeah, sure. Why not?" I answered for the both of us. "You guys want to stick with us for the journey, or at least part of it?"

"I don't see why not," David said as we piled into Vanessa's car. "Strength in numbers and whatnot."

"Exactly my thoughts."

A small crowd of people had already gathered at the park by the time we arrived. Like David had predicted, they all seemed to be around our age. That made sense since it was the middle of a workday and all. There was one older woman who seemed to be in charge. She was taking down everyone's names and listing the pokemon they were entering into the battle.

"Names?" she asked as we approached her.

We gave our names and then separately she asked us for our pokemon. I entered six as did Dylan. Vanessa and David each entered as many as they had.

"So… we just got into town," I said to her and then jerked my head towards David and Vanessa. "They just told us about this tournament. Are there any special rules to it or anything like that?"

The woman gave a sharp laugh. "Good thing you asked or you'd be rather surprised. This is an 'opponent's choice' one-on-one tournament. At the beginning of each battle you will hold up your poke balls. Your opponent will chose one and that's the pokemon you have to use for that round. No substituting or bargaining or anything."

Dylan gave me a look. "I'm glad you did ask. I'd have been pissed off when the first battle started."

"I'm sure you would've," she sighed and looked at her clipboard. "It's time to start. Black! Williamson! You're up!"

And just like that, the tournament had started. I did some quick math and figured I'd only have to win five battles to win the whole tournament. Dylan then pointed out that I suck at math and that I'd actually only have to win four.

"You know, I feel like I made a mistake," I said to Dylan.

"You mean like that math one that I just told you about?" he gave me a sly look.

"I hate you." I slugged him in the shoulder. "No, I mean registering six pokemon. Maybe I should've only entered Charmander and Treecko. Maybe Heracross too."

"You've got to battle the rest of them eventually," Dylan replied with a shrug. "They aren't going to get any stronger sitting in poke balls. Besides, this isn't a major tournament or anything. I doubt a loss here is going to cripple your chances of making it into the Pokemon League."

"Bach!" the organizer woman's voice stopped any reply I might've had. "Taylor! Front and center!"

"Guess that's my cue," I sighed. "Time to find out if I made a mistake or not."

I headed over to where the organizer lady was standing. My opponent was already standing there. I gave him a small nod of respect and got one in return.

"Show your pokemon," the woman ordered. "Bach first."

I gathered all my pokemon into my hands and extended them out. After a brief moment of thought, Taylor pointed to one and the woman snatched it up. I put my other pokemon away and took the poke ball back from the woman. We then repeated the process with me choosing on of Taylor's four pokemon.

We moved to our places and I stared at the poke ball in my hand. When I had pulled them all off my belt, I had lost track of which was which. I had absolutely no idea what pokemon I was currently holding. There was only one way to find out.

"Here we go!" I exclaimed and was greeted to a nice surprise.

"Heracross!" my pokemon announced itself.

My opponent looked surprised. I couldn't blame him. As far as I knew, heracross were not native to this area of the country. Taylor's pokemon as a little more common pokemon: a raticate. The type match up definitely favored me.

"Quick attack!" Taylor yelled.

"Brace yourself," I said as I did the same. "Here it comes."

The raticate came barreling in, ready for impact. I had no intention of letting it create any.

"Horn attack!"

Heracross pulled back slightly and then swung it's horn down with all it's might. The bug pokemon's timing was excellent. Where the horn spread out near the top came smashing down on the raticate's skull. The large mouse pokemon dropped like a rock. Heracross had scored a critical hit.

"Throw it into the air!" I shouted.

Reaching down, Heracross scooped the raticate up in it's horn and heaved it into the sky. The pokemon flailed about in the sky, nearly twenty feet high. My pokemon simply took a few steps back as the raticate came crashing to the ground. Just like that, the battle was over.

"Wow, really?" Dylan asked from behind me. "That's it?"

"Ok, that first attack was clearly a critical hit," I pointed out. "Did you not see that raticate crumble? There's no way that wasn't a critical. I just got lucky."

Across the battlefield, my opponent was fuming. I could especially blame him but there was not a whole lot I could do about it. I had decimated his pokemon in only two attacks after all.

"That's quite the attack your heracross has," David said as I walked over.

"Nah, that was just a critical hit," I waved him off.

"No, seriously. That bug has some serious strength."

"Don't encourage him!" Dylan broke in. "He's doing really well at not being ego-maniacal lately. He doesn't need a relapse."

I punched him on the shoulder as the others laughed. David's name was called and he left our group. I was about to follow the others when my cell phone rang. Looking down, I saw it was my mom.

"Best not ignore this," I sighed. "I'll be right back. Hi Mom."

Turned out that she just wanted to check in. We had been gone over a day now. I assured her that we were both doing fine and had even made some new friends. She wanted a detailed plan of where we were going next.

"We really don't have a detailed plan," I said while groaning inwardly. "We're kind of flying by the seat of our pants. I have to go though. I'm at a tournament."

After an elongated goodbye, I finally hung up the phone. My mom had apparently talked for longer than I realized. David had won his match and Vanessa was on the field now.

"And how's your mom?" Dylan asked as I approached.

"Not dealing with this so well," I sighed. "I told you she wanted to come with us right?"

"Yeah, I remember. I was not all about that."

"Me either. Now she wants a detailed plan of where we're going to be going and when we're going to get there."

Dylan looked at me. "You're joking."

"I wish," I said with a shake of my head. "I told her that wasn't happening in so many words and then told I had to go because I was at a tournament."

Dylan rolled his eyes and let out a single laugh.

On the field, Vanessa was fairing well. Her newly acquired cubone was fairing quite well against the opposition, a bulbasaur.

"Bone club!" she yelled.

The ground type pokemon raced in, pulling back it's right arm that was carrying it's bone. It weaved in between a vine whip attack and cracked the bulbasaur across the face with it's bone club. The grass pokemon staggered and then collapsed, giving Vanessa the win.

"You should've been watching this battle," David said. "She was pretty impressive."

"Are you saying that because she's your girlfriend or because she actually was?" I asked with a lopsided grin.

"No, she really was," Dylan confirmed. "For never having battled with that cubone before, well, it was impressive."

"Guess I'll have to remember that," I said with a shrug. "I'm sure I'll battle her at some point."

An announcement was made and Dylan was called to the battlefield. My friends and I moved to the edge of the field so we could watch. Dylan and his opponent, a girl named Nicole, selected each other's pokemon and stood ready. The officiator nodded at Dylan to release his pokemon.

"Here we go!" he announced.

Oddish appeared on the field and Dylan looked pleased. I knew he liked to lull opponents into a false sense of security with Oddish but I still had my doubts about the strategy. Especially in this type of match I really wasn't a fan of it. My concerns for Dylan's strategy became moot the second we saw his opponent's pokemon.

A large bird stood on the field now. It was similar to my pidgey but much larger with a plume of red feathers growing out above it's brow and standing up in the air. It also looked a lot more dangerous than my pidgey. Dylan's face slumped as he couldn't believe his luck. I was pretty sure I saw Oddish's leaves droop a little too.

"Pidgeotto, use tackle!" Nicole shouted.

Dylan snapped out of his pity session. "Use stun spore Oddish!"

The flying pokemon had jumped into the air and was now riding the air currents at high speeds towards Oddish. A snarl appeared on Oddish's face as it prepared itself for impact. A yellow powder began emanating from it's leaves.

"Don't get near it!" Nicole yelled. Pidgeotto responded with a mighty flap that sent it soaring straight up.

Dylan looked furious. His best chance had been to get the flying pokemon close enough to paralyze it. Unfortunately, his opponent was on to his game plan.

"Wave your leaves," Dylan ordered. "See if you can generate enough stun spore that that pidgeotto can't avoid it!"

"Od-oddish!" the plant pokemon cried as it began shaking furiously.

To the surprise of most of us, Oddish was actually churning up a huge cloud of stun spore. We actually backed away in fear that we might get paralyzed. Up in the sky, Pidgeotto circled above the cloud.

"Gust!" Dylan's opponent pointed at the big cloud. "Blow it all right back at Oddish!"

With three flaps of it's mighty wings, Pidgeotto had created a huge gust of wind that slammed the cloud of stun spore back into Dylan's pokemon. Suddenly Oddish cringed and wrenched strangely to the side. It's own attack had been used against it.

"Oh that is not good," Vanessa whispered. "Oddish was already at a type disadvantage and now it's paralyzed."

"Yup, this one is pretty much over," I gritted my teeth in hopes that I was wrong.

"Quick attack!" Nicole commanded. "Finish it off!"

Pidgeotto was suddenly racing down out of the skies. Oddish could do nothing but watch as the big bird came barreling down at it. The flying pokemon scored a direct hit, tossing Oddish out of the battle area. We didn't need to hear the official declaration to know that the poor grass pokemon had been defeated.

I didn't say anything for a moment. This was actually the first time I had ever seen Dylan lose a match. Neither of us was very accustomed to losing but he seemed in fairly high spirits regardless.

"Eh, what can you do?" he said with a shrug when he came over. "Things didn't go my way but I really didn't expect them to against an evolved flying pokemon. At least I learned something."

"You're in a surprisingly good mood for having just lost for the first time," I eyed him suspiciously.

He shrugged again. "It's like I told you before: this isn't going to hurt my chances of getting into the Pokemon League. As long as I still get all eight Gym Badges, I'm golden. You need to relax a little. You aren't going to win every match."

I didn't have a reply to that so we went back to watching matches. Apparently the tournament had progressed further than I had realized while Dylan and I were talking as the second round was underway. The first battle was a lopsided one. One of the competitors had gotten lucky with a type advantage.

"Round Two battle between Bach and Sweet!" the lady in charge shouted. "Let's go!"

I looked at David. "We're battling?"

"Yeah, you didn't realize that?" David asked as we moved to the field.

"No, I hadn't really figured out the tournament bracket," I admitted. "I hadn't given it any thought at all."

"Doesn't really matter now," he said with a shrug. "Guess I get my rematch from last night."

I grinned and held out my poke balls. "Pick your poison."

He chose the one on the far right and I put the rest away. Then David held up his five pokemon and I frowned. It occurred to me at that moment that I had no idea what other pokemon David might have. I had to hope for a type advantage because he clearly knew what he was doing when he battled. Taking my chances, I picked the center poke ball.

"Begin!" the lady in charge declared.

"Here we go!" David announced.

Vlad the squirtle appeared on the field. My breath caught in my throat for a moment. As far as I could tell, David's squirtle was probably his strongest pokemon and was rivaled only by his mankey. I had to hope that I had either Pikachu or Treecko in my hand or really anyone but Charmander.

"Let's go!" I called and threw the poke ball.

I was greeted by Mudkip on the field. I wasn't particularly overjoyed but I was at least relieved that it wasn't my fire pokemon. Mudkip was spunky enough that I felt we could pull out a win with the type negation.

"Tackle attack!" David yelled.

"Use tackle as well!" I ordered.

The two water pokemon began charging at each other, Mudkip down on all fours and Vlad up on two legs. They covered the distance quickly and leapt at each other.

"Withdraw!" David shouted.

In the blink of an eye, Vlad had pulled all of it's appendages into it's shell to essentially make itself a bullet. Mudkip was disoriented by the sudden size reduction of it's enemy and flattened by the shell bullet. Vlad reappared out of it's shell just in time to land safely.

"That was a nice move," I had to admit. "It'll take more than that to keep us down though! Mudkip, tackle!"

My pokemon sprang back up to it's feet and barreled down on Vlad. David sent Vlad in with a tackle attack as well and I had a feeling he was about to try the same thing again. This time I had a plan.

Right before the two pokemon were about to leap, I acted. "Mudkip, get on up!"

Dropping it's head down, Mudkip fired a water gun into the ground and launched itself into the sky. I had been wrong however. David didn't try anything fancy but his squirtle still ran through the water gun and was shoved towards the ground. It was ground into the dirt until Mudkip stopped.

"You stole that from me!" Dylan yelled from the sidelines.

"I know! We've been over this!" I yelled back as my pokemon landed, unharmed.

"Seems we're both full of tricks," David called to me. "I hope you've got some more, though. I've trained Vlad pretty well. It's going to take more than that to take us down."

Inwardly, I grimaced. I knew he was right. Mudkip might have spunk and a slight speed advantage, but Vlad clearly outmuscled Mudkip. Running through Mudkip's attacks in my head, I wasn't sure what I was going to use to defeat the squirtle.

I decided to just play it by ear. "Water gun!"

"You do the same!" David ordered.

The two blasts of water met in the air. For a moment, they held steady with water spraying everywhere. Then slowly, my pokemon began to lose ground. Vlad's water gun slowly overtook Mudkip's until Mudkip's water gun barely extended out of it's mouth. I tried to act but in that instant the water gun overtook my pokemon and sent it tumbling backwards.

"Move quick Vlad!" David shouted. "Tackle!"

"Hang in there Mudkip!" I encouraged my pokemon. "Mud slap!"

Although still on the ground, Mudkip dug a paw into the muddy ground and heaved a blob at the rapidly approaching squirtle. Vlad sidestepped the hunk of mud and leveled my rising pokemon with a tackle. Mudkip fell and struggled to rise. It was clear that David's squirtle was a much higher level.

"Are you ok, Mudkip?" I asked. "Do you want to keep going?"

The little blue pokemon's legs trembled as it pulled itself up.

"Mud! Mud-kip!" it hollered.

"That's what I like to hear!" I grinned. "We don't ever give up! Use mud slap again!"

With a swipe of both front paws, Mudkip sent dual flying globs of mud at Vlad. The turtle pokemon managed to dodge one but was clipped in the shoulder by the other. Vlad spun around and fell to the ground, back down.

"Get in there Mudkip!" I yelled. "Tackle!"

Mudkip raced in and I hoped to get to the squirtle before it could get to it's feet. However, I once again underestimated David.

"Water gun at the ground to your left!"

In a maneuver similar to what Mudkip and I had pilfered from Dylan, Vlad used water gun to propel itself across the field instead of up in the air. My pokemon was so surprised that it never had a chance to react. Mudkip took a water propelled tackle that crumpled it to the ground. I winced and lowered my head.

"Sorry Mudkip," I whispered. "We got a bit out muscled this time. You were great though."

I gathered up my pokemon and retreated to the sidelines. I was quiet for a moment and my friends let me be for a time.

"You sure took that hard," David said as Vanessa took the field.

"Can't say I'm much of a fan of losing," I retorted. "I feel bad for Mudkip. Last couple times it's lost have been pretty devastating last attacks."

"I guess those are the risks you take as a trainer," he shrugged. "Can't win them all and eventually you're going to have an ugly loss."

I sighed. "Maybe you and Dylan are right. Maybe I am taking these losses too seriously. Guess I should relax a little."

"Of course I'm right!" Dylan snorted as he came up beside me. "I keep trying to explain to you that I always am."

I turned to David. "Do you see this? I was going to have to put with this for the next year."

"Pretty sure you decided to go with him," David laugh. "At least that's how I hear it."

"I was tricked," I huffed.

My mood had improved drastically at this point. A smile on my face, we moved closer to the field to watch Vanessa battle. It wasn't going especially well for her. The luck of the draw was not with her as she was using her tailow against a minum. Despite her flying pokemon having a distinct disadvantage, she was still holding her own.

"Ever seen a minum before?" Dylan asked David.

"Yeah, once or twice," he answered. "Why?"

"Ever see one on the field at the same time as a plusle?"

David tilted his head to look at him, brows furrowed. "No, why?"

I snorted a laugh.

"They actually give each other a power boost," Dylan explained. "We ran across a pair in a doubles tournament. They used some helping hand attack to boost their power even more. We came really close to getting hardcore owned."

"Really?" David scratched at his stubble. "I'll have to remember that. Wouldn't want to get caught against that."

"You would not," Dylan grimaced. "Ask my zigzagoon."

"I'll take your word for it."

On the field, Vanessa was still losing to the minum even though it didn't have a power boost. It's electrical attributes were proving to be enough.

"Quick attack!" Vanessa yelled.

With a quick flap of it's wings, the tailow was off like a shot. The small blue bird was rocketing in on the small yellow pokemon when it's trainer acted.

"Minum, use spark!"

Electricity began crackling around the minum as it raced to meet Vanessa's tailow. The two struck in midair. Even though Tailow had more speed behind it's attack, the electrical force behind Minum's proved to be stronger. With a cry, Tailow fell from the sky and didn't move.

"Dang, that sucks," I winced. "This tournament does not appear to be for us."

"Not for you, maybe," David scoffed. "I'm still in this thing."

Vanessa rejoined us, still the constant ball of energy.

"Oh man, did you see that?" she exclaimed. "They were like 'bam!' and we were like 'smack!' and then I dunno what happened!"

"I think it's going to take us a while to understand what she's saying," Dylan snickered and I coughed into my hand to hide my laughter.

Vanessa threw her hands into the air. "Whatever. You guys just can't keep up with me. Hey, you still owe me a match!"

Her rapid change of topic caught me off guard. "Ha, yeah I do. I don't think here is the best place but you'll get it eventually. You'd better be ready, I've got a few surprises up my sleeve."

"Really?" Dylan muttered over my shoulder. "She's seen everything you have but Pidgey and Corphish."

I swatted at him to keep him quiet. "Mind games, remember?"

He gave me a silent look of recognition and then turned his attention to the final battle of the second round. It came well short of being an epic thriller. For whatever reason, both trainers had entered caterpies and somehow both had chosen the other's for this battle. I could've taken a nap before it was finally over.

"That was…" Dylan was at a loss for words. "I'm going to go with 'special'."

"That's being generous," Vanessa snorted. "That was boring."

"Let us never speak of that again," I moaned as I rubbed the bridge of my nose.

David just laughed as he headed to the field for his semi-final battle. I fidgeted on the sidelines as I watched him and his opponent select their pokemon. I really wanted to be out there instead of David. Suddenly I found myself more motivated to win just so I wouldn't have to sit on the sidelines.

"Really?" Dylan exclaimed as the trainers sent out their pokemon. "How does David get so lucky? His mankey gets chosen to battle a geodude? Come on!" He kicked at the grass.

"Wow, weren't you just telling me to lighten up?" I cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Hey, I don't like losing and being a spectator any more than you," he shot back. "I just don't take it as hard as you do."

Vanessa just rolled her eyes at our bickering. "You guys are like an old married couple."

"See what you've done?" I snapped at Dylan. "You've given us a bad name!"

"Me? This is clearly all your fault!"

At this point Vanessa was laughing hysterically. I was actually afraid she might die from lack of breathing. Finally she settled down and pulled her dark hair out from in front of her face.

"You guys are special," she said with a giggle.

Meanwhile, David was firmly in control of his battle. Duke, his mankey, had the opposing geodude on the ropes with a flurry of karate chops. The geodude looked as exhausted as a rock with arms could look.

"Tackle!" yelled the trainer of the geodude.

"It's over," I said, twisting my mouth to the side.

"Low kick!" David ordered.

Dropping low to the ground, Duke slid under the attacking geodude. The fighting pokemon then sprung up to one foot and jabbed he other out. The geodude never had a chance to even see the kick. It took it square in the back and skipped across the grass. We didn't have to listen for the announcement to know that David had won and was advancing to the finals.

"That was pretty slick," Dylan whistled. "That mankey has some moves."

I leaned my head over towards Vanessa. "Where did you guys come up with your battle style?"

"Um," she said and then paused. "I just like to be in control. I don't like other people dictating which pokemon I need to put on the field."

I was caught off guard by her answer. I had forgotten that Vanessa and David had quite different battling styles.

"What about David?" I prompted.

"I dunno," Vanessa shrugged. "I think he just likes coming up with ways to use attacks that people haven't seen before."

Dylan had overheard our conversation. "Kind of like you Tim. Only you seem to be able to do it on the fly."

I opened my hands. "Hey, whatever works."

David came over to join us as the other semi-final match got underway. We watched in relative silence so David could concentrate. He watched both trainers intently, trying to pick up on any tendencies they might show.

Luckily for the rest of us, this battle was far more interesting than the last one we had all watched. This battle featured two trainers that appeared to be a few years older than us using a beedrill and an ekans. They both clearly had some skills as trainers.

"Get in there Beedrill!" yelled the first trainer. "Twin needle!"

The bug pokemon swooped down, bringing it's pointed legs to bare.

"Glare!" countered the second trainer.

The ekans suddenly reared up, it's eyes filled with a yellow shimmer. The two pokemon locked eyes and suddenly the beedrill stiffened up. It completely locked up and fell to the ground like a rock.

"Wrap!" the second trainer ordered. "Squeeze the life out of that beedrill!"

The snake pokemon slithered over and around the paralyzed beedrill. Once wrapped around, it tightened with all it's might. It was only a matter of moments before the match was called in favor of the ekans and it's trainer.

"That was lucky," Dylan observed. "If glare hadn't worked, this battle may have gone completely the other way."

"Luck is half the battle," I said.

"What's the other half?" Dylan asked with a smirk. "Knowing?"

"That's what the cartoons of my youth would have me believe and if you can't trust cartoons, who can you trust?"

David gave a quick laugh and then moved away from the group. He grasped his chin with a hand as he appeared to be pondering his upcoming championship match. We granted him his space and moved back a few feet.

"So if you're David, what's your best case scenario?" I proposed to the others. "His squirtle went through a rough battle with my mudkip and his mankey just battled. What did he use in his first battle?"

"Steve, his geodude," Vanessa answered.

I whipped around. "Wait, he has a geodude?"

"Yeah, he caught it when we were in that cave," Vanessa shrugged. "While you guys were battling those zubats."

"Do we even know what that other trainer has?" Dylan scratched his chin. "I mean besides that ekans. Did anyone pay attention to her other battles?"

Vanessa and I shook our heads no.

"Unfortunate" Dylan continued. "That doesn't help us at all. What other pokemon does David have?"

Vanessa thought for a brief second. "He still has a spearow and his zubat. Um… yeah, that's all."

"Interesting," I muttered. "Even though they've already battled, probably one of the three he's already used would be his best bet."

"Sweet! Lambert!" the lady in charge bellowed.

"Time to find out," Dylan clucked his tongue.

A crowd of all the other eliminated participants had gathered near the edge of the battle zone. Whispers and rumors were traded amongst the trainers in attempts to deduce who would be most likely to win. Through talking to a girl, I learned that the trainer opposing David's name was Lindsey and had used a butterfree in her battles that we hadn't seen.

I shared the information with my friends. "That type match up doesn't really mean anything for David unless he gets his spearow or geodude."

"Or his mankey," Vanessa added. "Butterfrees are part flying-type. That's not good for fighting types."

"This is the championship battle!" the tournament lady declared. "To the winner of this match goes the spoils!"

Dylan looked at me. "Did we stand to win something?"

I shrugged and made a confused face. "I guess so but I don't know."

Ahead on the field, David and Lindsey were choosing each other's pokemon. Each picked quickly and then tucked away their other pokemon. Even from where I was, I could see David had a death grip on his poke ball.

"Poke ball, go!" he shouted.

He heaved a sigh of relief as Duke, his mankey, appeared on the field. Fresh off it's destruction of the geodude in the last round, it was rearing for more. The fighting pokemon bounced in place as it waited for it's opponent.

"Here we go!" called Lindsey.

A small yellow pokemon appeared on the field, something I hadn't seen before.

"Is that a banana?" I asked no one in particular.

It had a roundish yellow body, very similar to that of a banana actually. Four legs carried it around the field. A ring of green dots ran around it's body right below it's mouth and legs. On top of it's head was a long green leaf.

"Chikorita," Dylan identified it with his pokedex. "A grass type. This should be interesting…"

The two trainers stood motionless for a moment, considering their strategies. The official waved her hand and yelled. The championship match had begun.

"Ok Duke!" David yelled. "Get in there with scratch!"

"Reflect!" Lindsey countered.

Lindsey's chikorita waved it's head in a circle, the leave on top swirling. For a brief moment, the air in front of the grass pokemon blurred. I thought I saw something but I wasn't sure. Then Duke appeared to run into a solid wall.

"What was that?" Vanessa exclaimed.

Duke staggered back and what looked to be a pane of glass sat in front of Chikorita. The grass pokemon and it's trainer smiled happily.

"Reflect creates basically a wall," Dylan explained. "Until Duke breaks through that wall, it can't cause any damage."

"That doesn't bode well," I muttered and judging by the look on David's face, he agreed with me.

"We'll just have to break down that wall," David said. "Smash it with karate chop!"

"Vine whip!" Lindsay shouted.

Two of the dots on Chikorita's suddenly rocketed out into long vines. They shot right through the reflect and with a slight upswing, knocked Duke completely off it's feet. The fighting pokemon rebounded right back up, clearly steamed now.

"This is interesting," I commented. "Lindsey seems content to sit behind her little wall and just counter whatever David throws at her. I have a feeling that one good, strong attack will shatter it."

"Chikorita, razor leaf!" Lindsey ordered, in my mind just to spite me.

With a swish of it's head leaf, Chikorita sent series of small leaves spinning towards Duke. This had the potential to be really bad.

"Fury swipes, Duke!" David snarled, clutching his fist. "Block them all!"

"Man-key!" Duke screamed.

Suddenly it's arms became a blur as it began swiping around at high speeds. Each swipe shattered any leaves that came in contact with it. In a matter of seconds, Duke had fended off the entire razor leaf attack without damage.

Dylan whistled. "Nifty."

David didn't dwell on his small victory. "Karate chop!"

Duke charged in, arms cocked back.

"Vine whip!" Lindsey ordered.

"Drop into low kick!" David countered.

The mankey dropped down into almost a slide and passed underneath the vines. Jabbing a foot out, it slammed into the reflective surface. The reflect bowed for a minute and then snapped back into shape, throwing Duke back.

"It'll take more than that to break through our defenses," scoffed Lindsey.

"You know she's right in more ways than one," Dylan said as Duke dodged another vine whip. "Even once Duke breaks through that barrier, it still won't have caused any damage to Chikorita. David better do something fast or his pokemon won't have the energy left to win."

"Vine whip again!" Lindsey called.

"Hold your ground!" David yelled as the vines rocketed towards his pokemon. "Now catch those vines!"

Duke stepped forward ahead of where the vines were about to converge and reached out. With each hand it grabbed a vine and held tight. Chikorita jerked back in surprise. It tried to pull it's vines back but ended up dragged Duke forward just a few inches.

"Congrats, you've grabbed Chikorita's vines," Lindsey said. "Now what?"

"Focus energy!" David ordered.

Duke's brow furrowed and it pulled it's arms in close. It actually began trembling as it started concentrating. A white aura, almost fire-like surrounded the pokemon. Suddenly Duke threw it's arms out with a scream and the aura shattered.

The crowd was silent.

"Alright now throw Chikorita!" David instructed.

Tightening it's grip, Duke twisted and pulled. Chikorita's small body weight didn't stand a chance against the fighting pokemon's strength. The grass pokemon was lifted off the ground and was suddenly flying through the air towards Duke.

"Karate chop!" David yelled.

Duke whipped back around and cocked an arm back. A defenseless chikorita was now flying through the air towards Duke. Lindsey screamed. Suddenly David's brilliance shone through. If he couldn't get through Chikorita's barrier, he'd pull it away from it; Reflect didn't follow the user.

In a flash, Duke drove it's karate chop down on the flailing chikorita. It smashed the grass pokemon down and drove it into the ground. The grass pokemon let out a painful scream.

"Ah, so that's what focus energy does," Dylan said. "It raised Duke's critical hit ratio. Karate chop was almost guaranteed to be a critical hit."

"Chikorita is unable to battle!" the official shouted. "Victory to Duke and David!"

"That… that was impressive," I stammered as the crowd cheered. "I don't know if I would've thought to do that."

"Well you can file that away with the other tricks you've learned from people," Dylan said as he clapped. "Like the water gun at the ground trick I came up with."

The crowd began to disperse and I could see that the lady in charge of the whole thing had pulled David aside. They exchanged words and she handed him a black cylinder case about the size of a pop can. With a final handshake, he came over to join us.

"That was amazing!" Vanessa gushed as she planted a big kiss on him.

"I've got to give it to you," I said with a shake of my head. "That was some quick thinking on your part."

"What did you win?" Dylan pointed to the case that David carried in his left hand.

"Oh, it turns out this tournament is being sponsored by some big company," he explained. "They're having tournaments in a lot of cities to promote their technical machine products."

"Technical machines?" I repeated. "I'm not familiar with those."

"Really?" David was taken aback. "Check them out."

He popped the top off the case and poured some of its contents into his other hand. They were small CDs, maybe the size of the inner ring of a normal sized CD. They each also had something etched on them.

"Pretty," Dylan joked. "What do they do?"

"They teach pokemon attacks."

I did a double take. "Come again?"

David explained. "You let your pokemon out of its ball and place whichever TM you want it to learn in the ball. Close it up and then recall the pokemon back to it's ball. Give it a few minutes and it'll absorb the move. Next time you let it out, if a cloud of dust appears it learned the move. If it's not able to learn that particular move, the TM will just fall out and you can use it for something else."

"I was not aware of that," I said slowly. "It seems like we probably should've known that already."

"Eh, not really," David shrugged. "TM's are just now getting more prominent use. They've only been around for a few years."

"Well that puts a whole new spin on things," Dylan added. "We're going to have to get our hands on some of those."

"The really good ones like 'hyper beam' and stuff are harder to get your hands on," David warned. "These are some pretty common ones. Looks like I have doubles of a couple. Here, Tim."

He tossed one to me. I caught it with both hands and looked at it, dumbfounded. Across the top of it was etched "Iron Tail". If memory served me correctly, that was a steel-type move.

"Um, thanks," I said, unsure of why he gave it to me.

"Call it payment from our first battle," he explained and then his eyes lit up but he didn't explain why.

"So… we should probably go," Vanessa said slowly. "We've got to heal our pokemon and then be ready to go by eight."

I raised an eyebrow and dug out my phone to check the time. "I don't think it's going to take four and a half hours to get our pokemon healed."

"Yeah, um, I still have to pack," she said sheepishly, lowering her head.

Laughing, I shook my head. "I suppose we can cut you some slack since you were originally leaving tomorrow."

Piling into Vanessa's car, we headed to pokemon center. My prediction came true as it only took us half an hour to get in and out. I pointed this out and Vanessa made sure to punch me in the shoulder. Back at her father's house, the three of us guys sat around as we waited for her to pack.


	15. Chapter 15

"I'd just like to say that I've been packed for a few days now," David said loud enough for Vanessa to hear in the other room.

"You shut your mouth!" she hollered back.

"You've got food and everything?" Dylan asked.

"Oh yeah," David smirked. "My family is big into the outdoors. We had all sorts of dried foods and stuff like that. Between me and her, we should have enough food for almost a week without replenishing."

"Impressive," I commented. "We've got enough for a few days. We figured that we're never going to be more than a day or two's walk from some kind of town. With Dylan's GPS, we can always find the nearest one too."

David nodded his approval. "Between the four of us, we're all sorts of prepared."

Vanessa moved to the kitchen. She started going through cupboards, clearly knowing exactly what she was looking for. Lots of dried and prepackaged foods, along with some canned stuff, were shoved into her big backpack. I had to admit that I was fairly impressed with how much stuff she could get in there.

After the first pass of loading up her bag, Vanessa slowed down. She pulled everything back out and repacked it. Careful not miss anything, she noted everything she put into her bag. Then she went over her notes and found anything she was missing. The whole process took her close to three hours. Dylan and I were rechecking our gear when she made the call for our ride.

"Who is giving us a ride anyway?" I asked David.

"I think it's her cousin," he replied, shouldering his pack. "Not really sure though. I don't really care though since it saves us probably over a day of walking."

"I hear that," Dylan chimed in. "Although once we get outside of Michigan, or at least the populated parts, I'd like to walk mostly. We aren't going to catch any pokemon if we're driving."

David and I nodded our agreement. Vanessa joined us at the doorway.

"Ok, my cousin said she'll be here in like five minutes," she informed us. "Everybody set?"

"Yes Mom!" Dylan and I sighed together, earning both of us a punch.

We moved outside and got one last stretch in. After sitting for a while, our muscles has gotten tight. Riding in a car for an hour wasn't going to help matters either.

"You know, you still owe me a battle," Vanessa said to me.

"That's true," I admitted. "Now seems like a bad time though."

"Agreed. Soon."

I thought for a moment. "I kind of want to focus on getting this first badge. How about after we win?"

"I'm ok with that." We shook on it.

A red sedan pulled into the driveway. Even though we were all standing next to the driveway, Vanessa's cousin still honked and waved at us. After jamming all of our bags in the trunk, we piled into the car. Vanessa took the front seat and the three of us guys squeezed awkwardly into the back seat.

"Guys, this is my cousin Shannon," Vanessa introduced us. "Shannon, you know David, but this is Tim and Dylan."

Shannon gave us a wave in her mirror and said hello. She seemed like she was a few years older than us, maybe twenty-four. Her hair and eyes were dark like Vanessa's and that's about all we could tell about her.

The two cousins got caught up on each other's lives while the males fidgeted in the back. Dylan and I took to exchanging elbows. David started getting in on the action and Vanessa had to turn around in her seat to yell at us. Like scolded children we averted our eyes and remained silent. For a few minutes at least.

Shannon broke the silence. "So where are you two from?"

It took Dylan and I a moment to realize she was talking to us.

"Grand Rapids," Dylan answered. "Born and raised."

"How's the level of competition around there?"

"Pokemon?" I asked. "Um, I guess it's not bad. Hard to say since we're fairly new at this still."

"Define new."

"I dunno, it's been like a month now."

In the rearview mirror, I could see Shannon blink in surprise. "That isn't long at all to already be taking on Gym Leaders."

Dylan shrugged. "I guess we'll find out. If nothing else, we've got enough different types to hold our own."

Vanessa squirmed around in her seat to look at us. "What other types do you have? Anything fun?"

"Eh, I just have a flying type," I answered. "You've seen all my other types. Although I guess Heracross is a fighting type too."

"What about you Dylan?" David asked, clearly interested for future battles.

"I've still got another grass pokemon and some bug pokemon," my friend admitted. "Also one more that I'm keeping secret."

Shannon looked at him through the mirror. "Why?"

"It's my trump card. I like to have something that I can fall back on in the event of an emergency and not have people know what it is."

"Trust me, it works," I agreed. "I've seen it in action. And no, I won't tell you what it is."

Vanessa slumped down in her seat as I had clearly beat her to the punch.

"So tell me," I said to Shannon. "You seem to know a bit about pokemon. Are you a trainer?"

"Not really, no," she shook her head. "I have a couple pokemon but I'm not really into the whole battle scene. I have some friends who are so I know a bit about it though."

"That's cool," I nodded.

The sun was gone by the time we got into the actual city of Detroit. Using Dylan's GPS, we were able to navigate the darkened streets to find a pokemon center. We pooled together and gave Shannon some money as thanks to help pay for gas. She wished us luck tomorrow and told us to call her if we needed her before driving off.

We pulled the doors open and walked into the pokemon center. The lights had dimmed a little so as not to disturb any sleepers. It seemed to split into three parts. The center was the actual healing station. Off to the right was a recreation lounge where a few trainers were relaxing. To the right was the dormitory. It appeared to be mostly empty.

"It's really not that late," Dylan observed, checking his watch. "I'm going to go sit in the lounge for a bit. Maybe do a little game planning."

"I like your train of thought," I said. "I think I saw a computer terminal over there too. I'd like to see if the Professor emailed me back yet."

Vanessa and David joined us as well, forming a circle of cushioned chairs. They were probably some of the more comfortable chairs I had sat in in a long time. With much regret did I get up to use the computer there.

Professor Oak had indeed emailed me back. His message said that he was glad we were making good time so far. He also included the number to input on the pokemon transfer machine to send him our pokemon. I scribbled the number down and tucked it into my wallet before logging out of my email.

Back by the chairs, my friends had dragged a short round table over between our chairs. Each of them had their poke balls piled up in front of them. All three of them were in deep concentration. I flopped down and shattered the silence.

"So game planning is good," I said, "but do we even know what we're game planning for?"

"How do you even survive without me?" Dylan sighed. "This is the rock gym. Come on, why do you think they call it Detroit Rock City?"

I had no answer for him so I put all my pokemon on the table as well. Calling upon everything I knew about rock-typed pokemon, I started devising my plan of attack. I immediately swept Pikachu, Pidgey and Zubat off the table. Electric and flying attacks were no good against rock. Zubat was also part poison but going into a gym with a rookie pokemon seemed like a bad idea.

Treecko, Mudkip, Bulbasaur and Corphish were shoved into one pile, as they all had attacks that would be effective against rock. That left me with Charmander and Heracross. Heracross was also part fighting but had yet to learn any fighting attacks. I took the bug pokemon off the table. Charmander had a steel type attack that would work well but it's real power was in it's fire. Fire wasn't good against rock however. I leaned back to think about it.

Unsure of how many pokemon I would be able to use, I replaced them on my belt in the order that I'd want to use them. The two water types were first as their water attacks packed the most punch. Next came Bulbasaur because it's grass attacks were more potent than Treecko's absorb attack which came next. Charmander was after the grass types and I rounded out the team with Heracross. I hoped I wouldn't get that far down the line but I wanted to be prepared if I did.

"Ok, I'm all set," I said. "How about you guys?"

"As long as I don't have to go deep into my team, I'm good," Dylan replied. "Bulbasaur, Totodile and Oddish should supply all the offense I need."

"You guys are in a little better shape than me," David shrugged. "If I have to go beyond Duke and Vlad, I'm in trouble. I think those two should be able to handle it though. They are my strongest."

Vanessa remained silent.

I went to ask why she was so quiet but realized why before I said anything: we all had pokemon that were strong against rock types and she didn't. Her best bet was her cubone that didn't have much experience.

"Do you want to borrow one of my pokemon?" I offered. "I've got enough types to go around."

She straightened up. "Nope, I'll be fine. I'll lead the way with Cubone and Charmander has metal claw. I'm going to be just fine."

"You've got the right attitude if nothing else," David smiled and patted her knee.

"At least you've got Cubone," Dylan offered. "Can you imagine trying to battle a rock gym with like a charmander, pidgey and some bug pokemon? That'd be awful. You could be so much worse off."

I shuddered at the thought. "At least charmanders learn metal claw. Imagine if they didn't. You'd be so screwed it wouldn't be funny. Bleh."

David laughed. "You sound almost bitter or something."

"Bitter?" I barked a laugh. "No, it would suck but I would prevail. Mostly because I'm awesome."

Dylan shook his head. "You've certainly got the right attitude."

"That happens when you're awesome. You should try it some time."

I squirmed out of Dylan's reach and he resorted to shaking a fist at me. Grinning, I just shrugged.

"We should probably get some sleep," David suggested. "We've got a big day ahead of us tomorrow."

Reluctantly, we all agreed. Crossing over to the other section of the pokemon center, we found the dormitory. It was largely uninhabited except for a pair of trainers residing at the far wall. We scored a set of bunk beds close to the door. Dylan clambered up to the top bunk while I curled up in the bottom bunk.

I had hoped to drop right off to sleep after a busy day but I laid awake. Above me I could hear Dylan rustling about too. In my mind I kept going over any possible scenario I might encounter tomorrow. Using Corphish and Bulbasaur gave me worries too. Only Corphish had any actual experience. Eventually my thoughts subsided and I drifted off to sleep finally.

It was light again when I finally opened up my eyes. Looking around, I was briefly confused as to where I was. The fog cleared from my head when I saw David sitting on a bunk. He looked ready to head out already. Clearly he was a morning person.

"About time someone else woke up," David said quietly.

"How long have you been up?" I grumbled as I rolled over to my side.

He shrugged. "I don't know, maybe an hour."

With a groan, I spun around and put my feet on the ground. I winced as I realized that the floor was very cold tile. I shoved my shoes on and staggered over to the bathroom, dragging my bag behind me. Inside the bathroom I relieved myself and changed into some cleaner clothes. When I got back to the bunks, Dylan and Vanessa were awake.

Dylan mumbled something to me and I grunted back in reply. He grunted back and stumbled off to the bathroom. Vanessa didn't even say anything, she just shuffled away. The two of them were a little more coherent when they returned. I would have been more amused but I was barely more awake than them.

"They don't serve food here, do they?" Vanessa asked. "I'm starved."

David shook his head. "Afraid not. I already checked. There's a fast food place just down the road then."

I pointed towards the door. "Onward. Food is waiting."

Our sleepy band started lumbering towards the door. The nurse that was manning the healing station said something to us but only David was coherent enough to respond. Relying solely on David to get there, we soon found ourselves waiting in line at the fast food place David had told us about.

After a good meal, we were firing on all cylinders again.

"So how far away is this gym anyway?" I asked, chewing on some hash browns.

"Not very," Dylan replied, tapping at his GPS. "I'd say it's not more than a fifteen minute walk or so."

"When do they open?" Vanessa asked. "We don't want to be sitting outside the doors for a while."

"Um, I think you think it's a lot earlier than it is," David laughed. "It's almost eleven now."

"Oh, yeah, definitely," Vanessa was taken aback. "I thought it was way earlier than that."

I shifted in my seat to stand. "Should we go then?"

They all got up in response. We dumped our trash and headed out the doors. Following Dylan's GPS we found the gym in about twenty minutes. The building itself was rather unassuming. From the outside, it looked much like a normal warehouse. The only thing that gave it away as a pokemon gym was the ten-foot wide chunk of stone in front of the building. Carved in the stone were the words _Pokemon Gym. Gym Leader: Steven, Rock Guru._

"Subtle," Dylan grunted.

"Hey, he's a gym leader," I said. "He's clearly good."

Dylan didn't say anything and we pushed through the double doors. Inside the doors was a room much smaller than we were expecting, it almost looked like a waiting room. At the far wall was another door and in front of it stood a man and a woman. The man was a few inches over six feet and his sleeveless shirt made it very clear that he was in shape. The woman was maybe a foot shorter than the guy. Her red hair looked like fire cascading down her shoulders and her green eyes shone with excitement.

"Welcome!" the man boomed, throwing his arms open. "What brings you to our gym today?"

We all just looked around, stunned and a little confused.

The man's eyes brightened. "Ah, rookie trainers! You're all here for your first gym battle! Excellent! My name is Steven and I'm the Gym Leader here. This is my assistant and lovely wife Nicole."

We all muttered our hellos, still a little overwhelmed by what was going on. Steven pointed us over to a bench on the wall and we took a seat. He came over and crouched down in front of us.

"Now because this is your first gym battle, there's going to be a few rules," he said.

"Rules?" I repeated.

"First off, you will only be allowed in the gym one at a time," he explained. "Your first step inside a gym is always something special. Each of you need to savor that on your own. Secondly, after battling me, you will wait in a separate room. That way there will be no chance of ruining the experience for anyone else. Do you understand?"

"Seems simple enough," Dylan shrugged.

"Alrighty then!" Steven chuckled and pointed to Vanessa. "Ladies first! Come with me my dear. The three of you wait here. Nicole is also my referee so she will be joining us in the gym. After a battle, she will come out for the next trainer."

They shoved through the doors and Vanessa trailed after them.

"They seemed a bit more high energy than I was expecting," I said.

"I guess when you're a gym leader you can do whatever you want," David shrugged.

A quiet fell over us as we sat there. We tried to make small talk but all conversations quickly died. Our nervousness overrode all other emotions. I had lost track of how long we had been sitting there when the door burst open. Nicole walked through and eyed us all for a moment.

"You," she declared, pointing at me. "You're next. Come with me."

I gulped and stood. David and Dylan gave me encouraging nods. The door slammed shut behind me and I found myself in a small hallway. Nicole beckoned me over to the next door. She placed a hand on the door.

"Are you ready?" she asked, arching a red eyebrow.

I nodded in a manner I hoped looked confident. "As ready as I'll ever be."

"Good," she replied and shoved the door open.

Quickly I understood why Steven had wanted us all to experience this by ourselves. The floor was covered in rocky pillars, some as high as ten feet. Having seen nothing but chalk outlined grass fields, it really was a sight to behold. The roof rose up several stories above our heads and the field was massive. Across the field I could see Steven, arms crossed with a confident smile.

"Welcome, young man!" he called as I stepped into the challenger's box. "What's your name?"

"Tim," I called back. "Tim Bach. From Grand Rapids."

"Ah, excellent city!" he grinned. "Has it prepared you well for our battle?"

I paused for a moment. "I think it has. I'm probably as best prepared as I could be."

"Top notch!" he exclaimed. "Now I want to give you an excellent battle, to help you learn about yourself and your pokemon but to do so, I need to know how many pokemon you brought and what types."

"Huh?" I was taken aback. "Is that allowed?"

"There is no rule against it," Nicole explained from the sidelines. "As long as Steven does not ask you the exact pokemon you've brought, it is legal. Trust me, it will be beneficial to do so."

I shrugged. "Um, ok. I have six pokemon. Two water types, two grass, one fire and one bug."

Steven laughed. "You are well prepared! We will battle two-on-two. Choose the two pokemon you want to use and put them in the first slots of your holster."

I froze. Of all the scenarios I had envisioned, this wasn't one of them. I had planned for a three-on-three but not this. I curled my hands into fists and uncurled them again. Going on first instinct, I made my choices.

"I'm ready!" I declared.

"This battle is between Gym Leader Steven and Challenger Tim," Nicole announced. "It will be a two-on-two battle. The first trainer to defeat all his opponent's pokemon will be declared the victor. Only the challenger may make substitutions. Gym Leader, your move."

"Right then!" Steven chuckled. "Let's begin! Nosepass, you're first!"

I had never seen this pokemon before. It looked a lot like a giant stone head with a huge orange nose. It stood on two round, stubby legs and had two similar arms. Considering my choices, I grabbed the second poke ball on my belt.

"Corphish, let's go!"

"A water pokemon, a good plan," Steven commended. "But not a perfect plan. Nosepass, rock throw!"

The big rock pokemon swung one of it's arms at a nearby stone pillar. The pillar shattered and showered Corphish with chunks of rock. My pokemon lifted it's claws up to shield itself.

"Use harden!" I ordered.

There was a flash and suddenly Corphish's carapace had a lot more shine to it and more importantly, a lot more defense. The rocks now bounced off of it.

"Follow up with bubble!"

Corphish reared back and then spat a steady stream of bubbles at Nosepass.

"Block it with rock throw!" Steven shouted.

Nosepass smashed another pillar. There were enough rocks falling down on the bubble attack that only two bubbles actually reached the rock pokemon. Neither did any actual damage.

"Tackle!" Steven ordered.

The big nosepass began lumbering towards my pokemon. I gritted my teeth. Any physical attack from the rock pokemon was going to devastating. An idea popped into my head.

"Rush Nosepass!" I yelled.

"Corphish!" my pokemon called as it started moving.

It was like a slow-motion car crash, neither of the pokemon being especially speedy. Corphish covered ground much faster though. When they got close, I struck.

"Corphish, use vice grip!"

The water pokemon lunged forward and clamped onto that big nose Nosepass had with one of it's claws. The rock pokemon swung around, clearly surprised. Vice grip wasn't doing any real damage but then again, I wasn't planning for it to.

"Now!" I shouted. "Use bubblebeam!"

Corphish whipped it's free claw around and pointed it right in between the eyes of Nosepass. A blast of bubbles came firing out of the claw. They were much bigger than the ones in Corphish's bubble attack. They also had a shimmer to them, indicating they were packing more energy. At close range, the attack was devastating.

"Nosepass, no!" Steven roared. "Thunder wave!"

Nosepass' orange nose suddenly glowed blue. Small tendrils of blue lightning lanced out and blasted Corphish off. My pokemon didn't take any physical damage but my battling plans had. Little sparks still flickered around Corphish; my pokemon was paralyzed.

"What?" I gaped. "How? I didn't think rock pokemon could learn electric attacks!"

"Perhaps you weren't as prepared as you could've been," Steven wagged a finger at me. "Nosepass, use rock throw!"

"Dodge it Corphish!"

The water pokemon tried to move but it's muscles locked up. Corphish cried out as the small rocks rained down on it. I winced and looked away. When I looked back, Nosepass was closing in. I figured I had two options: recall Corphish or hope the pokemon wasn't completely paralyzed and pray that one good attack could end the round.

"I know you can do this!" I exclaimed as Nosepass towered over my pokemon. "Use bubblebeam!"

"Corrrr-phish!" my pokemon roared.

Both it's claws snapped open. The shimmering bubbles blasted out and caught the slow moving rock pokemon flat footed. The energy from the water attack was enough to tip over the nosepass. It didn't move but I couldn't tell if that's because it was knocked out or just slow.

"Nosepass is unable to battle!" Nicole declared. "Corphish is the winner!"

"Yes!" I pumped my fist into the air. "I knew you could do it Corphish!"

"Well played!" Steven commended me. "I thought I had you there."

I was getting my confidence back and there was a retort on the tip of my tongue. Taunting a gym leader seemed like a bad plan so I refrained. I simply shrugged. I decided I could let my battling do my talking for me.

"You've done well so far," Steven said as he withdrew his fallen nosepass. "However, we're just getting started! Onix, it's your turn!"

I took a step back as the next rock pokemon formed on the field. It rivaled Dylan's gyarados in length and height but it was made completely of rocks. A line of boulders formed it's entire body, like a big snake made of rocks. A huge mouth rested underneath angry looking eyes and a tall horn extended on the top of it's head.

"Hoo boy," I muttered. "Corphish, return. Good work my friend."

"Respectful," Steven acknowledged with a nod. "It's important to respect your pokemon so that they will respect you in return."

I blinked a few times in surprise before I regained my composure. "Mudkip, let's finish this up!"

Mudkip formed on the field and it's head began craning up. It let out a soft moan as Onix moved to tower over it.

"Don't let it's size fool you!" I encouraged my pokemon. "Size means nothing! You're a water type so the advantage is ours! Onix's size just means you have a bigger target to aim for!"

My pokemon puffed up a little, hopefully inspired by my words. It gave the huge rock pokemon a hard look and then braced itself.

"Begin!" Nicole declared.

"Let's hit hard and fast!" I snarled, flinging my right arm out. "Water gun!"

Mudkip pulled back and then fired it's water attack. I should've known it wouldn't be that easy.

"Use screech Onix!" Steven shouted.

Onix jerked it's head towards Mudkip, mouth wide open. From it's mouth came the most bone-rattling roar I had ever heard. I could actually see the sound creating ripples in the air. When those ripples collided with Mudkip's water gun, the water blast completely dissipated. I held up my hand to shield my eyes from the blowing dirt. The sound didn't stop there. It slammed into Mudkip and sent the water pokemon flying. Mudkip careened off a rock and spun to the ground.

"Mudkip, no!" I hollered. "Get up!"

Mudkip gritted it's teeth and slowly rose from the ground. Before I could issue an order, Onix had swirled around it.

"Bind!" Steven roared. "Hold it tight!"

The loop Onix had weaved around Mudkip suddenly tightened. Mudkip screamed as it was clutched tightly and lifted off the ground. It squirmed with all it's might but couldn't wiggle free.

"Fire your water gun straight up!" I ordered, thinking quickly.

In the only direction it could, Mudkip fired away. Most of the water hit the high ceiling and rained back down on Mudkip and Onix.

"I appreciate the gardening help but I don't have many plants here to water," the gym leader taunted me. "This rain isn't hurting Onix."

"Who said anything about causing damage?" I countered. "Wiggle out of there Mudkip!"

The water did exactly as I had hoped. Mudkip was now slippery enough that it was able to squirm out of Onix's grasp. Before Steven and his pokemon knew what had happened, Mudkip was on the ground and on the move.

"Water gun!" I shouted.

Onix managed to locate my pokemon just in time to take a water gun to the face. The rock pokemon roared and twisted out of the way. Suddenly Mudkip and I were back in business.

"Iron tail!" Steven yelled. "Crush that mudkip!"

The lower half of Onix's tail began glowing a silver color and it swung it back. It didn't take a genius to realize it was going to smash my pokemon with it. The battle field crowded with rocks made escape a little more difficult.

I pointed at the ground. "Get on up!"

Dropping it's head down, Mudkip fired it's water gun straight at the ground. The force of the water blast sent the water pokemon flying into the air. Onix tried to swat it but Mudkip rocketed by, untouched. The glowing tail smashed into the ground, crushing anything under it. Mudkip landed gracefully on a large rock outcropping to the left of where Onix's tail lay.

"Water gun!"

The water pokemon soaked the big rock snake again, even more effective this time. In my haste to attack, though, I hadn't considered my pokemon's location.

"Iron tail!" Steven ordered.

The glow returned to the rock pokemon's tail that only lay a few feet from Mudkip. With a mighty swing, it sent my pokemon soaring across the gym. It slammed through a pile of rocks before it rolled to a stop just before the wall. With surprising speed, Onix was suddenly looming above it.

"Finish it with dragon breath," Steven said softly.

Onix exhaled a stream of something green that looked like almost like a gas. It wasn't faster than the laser on my poke ball though. The light touched Mudkip and pulled it back into it's poke ball a split second before the attack hit home.

"What?" Steven exclaimed.

"Corphish, let's go!" I shouted, throwing Corphish's ball to the to other side of the field.

I knew that Corphish was still paralyzed but I had a plan forming as Onix smashed through everything in it's path as it raced towards Corphish. If this didn't work, I was going to be in a world of hurt.

"Bubblebeam!" I screamed.

"Cor-phish!" the water pokemon cried as it's claws snapped open.

Onix had a full head of steam at this point. The shimmering bubbles were blasted out of Corphish's claws but they weren't slowing down the rock pokemon. They were however causing damage and that was all I needed them to do.

"Corphish, return!" I ordered, recalling the crab pokemon before the onix got to it. "Mudkip, let's finish this!"

I hurled Mudkip's poke ball as far away from Onix as I could. The brief retreat from battle had apparently allowed the water pokemon to regain it's senses. I had a feeling that my pokemon didn't have much left in the tank. We had to finish this and finish it fast.

"Rapid-fire water gun!" I ordered. "Give it everything you've got!"

Onix turned to charge again but Mudkip was already attacking. Mudkip fired it's water gun in short, controlled bursts, each one hitting Onix like a bullet. Onix squirmed around, trying to dodge but Mudkip's aim was true. The rock pokemon had no answer and no time to come up with one.

My eyes went wide and I pointed at the onix. "It's over! Water gun full blast!"

Mudkip reared back onto two feet and then lunged forward, putting every ounce of energy and water it could into it's attack. The pillar of water struck Onix right below the head. There was a tense second and then the giant fell. With a mighty crash, Onix collapsed to the rocky ground.

"Onix is unable to battle!" Nicole declared. "Mudkip is the winner! Victory goes to the challenger!"

I threw both hands into the air. "Yes! Mudkip, you were amazing!"

"Kip!" the water pokemon cried as it ran to me and jumped into my arms.

I hugged it and swung it around. Silently, I sent Corphish thanks as well. Had it not been able to draw Onix to it, my plan probably would've failed.

"That was spectacular!" Steven laughed. "Such guts! Such creativity! Such trust! I haven't seen a battle that exciting in some time!"

The gym leader returned his onix to it's pokemon and beckoned me over to the side of the gym. I put Mudkip away and walked over to him. Nicole joined us as well.

"Well done, young man!" Steven clapped me on the shoulder.

"Thank you, sir."

"Please, call me Steven," he waved my use of titles away. "Before I give you your badge, I'd like to ask you a few questions."

I shrugged. "Sure. Go ahead."

"Why did you use those two pokemon?" the gym leader asked. "Why Corphish and Mudkip?"

I thought for a moment. "Mostly because of their water attacks. One of my grass pokemon only has two grass attacks, neither of them powerful. The other one I haven't battled with yet. That seemed like a bad idea. I didn't have anything else effective against rock so the choice was easy."

Steven pursed his lips and nodded. "Very good, very good. Why did you start with Corphish?"

"Oh that's easy," I replied. "I'd only battled with Corphish once before now. Mudkip was the second pokemon I caught. We've had numerous battles together. I wanted to keep my more powerful pokemon back in case Corphish didn't pan out. Then at least I'd know what I was up against before I sent my more powerful pokemon in."

"He seems to have a good grasp of things," Nicole interjected.

"I agree," Steven nodded. "You clearly have the tools to be an excellent trainer. I am curious, though… you said you had a bug pokemon on your team. Why a bug pokemon?"

I smiled. "Well… I wasn't completely truthful with you before the battle. It's not just a bug type. It's also a fighting type. I brought a treecko, bulbasaur, charmander and heracross. It was the best choice out of all my other pokemon."

Nicole frowned. "You said you were from Grand Rapids. I didn't think heracross were found in this area of the country."

"I don't know if they are," I admitted. "This heracross was a gift to me. Can I ask you a question now?"

Steven looked taken aback but then smiled. "By all means."

"What's with all the questions?"

The gym leader and his wife laughed.

"Many trainers make this gym their first gym because pokemon that have type advantages over rock pokemon are some of the most common," Nicole began. "We get more first-time trainers than any other gym."

"Right, so we were specifically selected for this gym," Steven continued. "We were known for being good judges of a trainer's talent. The League placed us here so they could gauge the incoming talent. We make special note of some and pass their names along as trainers to keep an eye on."

"I see," I said rubbing my chin. "So all those questions were to make sure I understood what I was doing and not just getting lucky?"

"Exactly!" Steven's smile grew bigger. "You clearly have a good grasp of what's going on here."

"Well, this isn't the first time I've been evaluated," I shrugged.

"Who else has evaluated you?" Nicole asked.

I paused. "Professor Oak. He saw me battle at a tournament. He's actually the one who gave me my heracross and pokedex."

"Really!" Steven exclaimed. "You're just full of surprises. What about your other friends? Anything I should know about them? Don't tell me their pokemon, remember."

I thought for a moment. "Dylan, the one with glasses, was also evaluated by Professor Oak. Him and David are both skilled but in different ways."

"How so?" Steven inquired.

I took a moment to organize my thoughts.

"Dylan is very methodical when he battles. You won't see a lot of gimmicks or energy wasting from him. I once watched him battle his… er, water type against a fire. Instead of dousing the fire type, he toyed with it to get a reaction from it's trainer so he could gauge her creativity and skill. He can be creative though. That water gun against the ground trick I used? Yeah, I stole that from Dylan."

"What about the other one?" Nicole prompted.

"David? I haven't known David very long but he battles probably a bit like me. We're both very creative when we battle. You'd want to watch for stuff like I did when you battle him. He's pretty knowledgeable so that makes him ever better. I guess the best way to say it is Dylan is smart and David is clever."

Steven smiled again. "I'll keep that in mind so I can test them even further. Nicole, if you'd like to go get the next trainer that'd be great. Tim, come with me."

"I have another question," I said as I trailed Steven.

"What's that?" the gym leader replied.

"What's up with the really high ceiling?" I asked. "It's way higher than it needs to be for Onix to get around comfortably."

Steven laughed. "I'm glad you noticed. We had the ceiling built that high to give trainers with flying pokemon the idea that they would have lots of airspace, to see if they would be swayed into using flying pokemon. Just another of my little tests."

I followed him through the door we were standing by. Inside it was another short hallway. On the wall was what looked to be a keypad, a safe and something to slide a card through. Steven punched in a code on the pad and the safe door swung open. He pulled out something small and dropped it in my hand.

I held it up to my face and looked at it closely. It was small and grey. It was almost octagonal with a small circle in the center. If I had to guess, I would've guessed it was made out of some type of rock.

"That's a Boulder Badge," Steven explained. "That's your physical proof that you have bested me in a pokemon battle. Carry it with pride. Now if you'll just slide your trainer card through this thing."

Fumbling for my wallet, I dug out my trainer card. After I got it oriented the right way, I slid it through the card reader. A red light flashed twice and then went green. Steven motioned for me to put the card back away.

"That just recorded your victory here on that card," he informed me. "It's easier to keep track of trainer wins that way instead of everyone carrying around badges. For a while there, there was a huge black market for fake badges. A lot of unworthy trainers suddenly had eight badges. It also sent your winnings to your account."

"My what?" I repeated, not sure if I had heard right.

"Each ID card is linked to a bank account," Steven said as we walked to the door. "Way easier to make a deposit electronically than to be constantly handing out cash. It'll work just like a credit card now."

I was taken aback. "Wow, why didn't any tell me that before?"

Steven laughed. "Couldn't tell you. Go on ahead through. I've got to go get ready for my next match."


	16. Chapter 16

We shook hands and went in our separate directions. Through my door was a small room with several padded chairs. Vanessa was slouched down in one of the chairs, clearly bored. She sprung out of her chair when I walked in.

"Tim!" she shouted. "I won a badge!"

I laughed. "Congrats! Me too actually!"

"Psht, like that's a surprise," she waved me off. "I was so worried! I wasn't sure if I could win the whole thing with just Cubone!"

I arched an eyebrow. "You beat him with just Cubone? How many pokemon did he use?"

"We battled two-on-two," she said, dropping back into her seat. "I used Cubone and Charmander. He used a geodude and a nosepass."

"He used a geodude?" I repeated as I sat down. "He must either have a whole bunch of pokemon or a healing machine. I tangled with a nosepass and an onix."

"An onix?" she exclaimed. "How did you beat it?"

I described my battle to her, careful not to leave out any details. She was on the edge of her seat. She then explained how she was able to win using primarily her cubone.

"So you just used your charmander to change up the pace," I said, stroking the stubble on my chin. "Interesting. Why didn't you stick with it?"

"It got paralyzed," she dropped her head low, an angry look on her face. "That stupid nosepass can use electric moves! How is that fair?"

I laughed again. "Don't feel bad, he got me with that too. I was just glad it was only thunder wave. Steven could've easily fried me if it had known thundershock or something. I wouldn't have stood a chance."

A loud crash rumbled through the walls.

"I wonder who he's facing now," I muttered. "I feel kind of bad. I gave him a description of how David and Dylan battle."

"Ha, don't worry, he asked me the same thing," Vanessa scoffed. "I told him to watch out for you because you were stacked against rock types."

There was another loud crash.

"I'd have to say that Steven has a healing machine," I guessed. "Those crashes sound like his onix. You got lucky. One good hit from that thing can end a battle."

"Hey, you owe me a battle now!"

"True story," I shook my head and laughed. "Let's wait for the others at least."

"Ok, fine. Hey, it's quiet now."

I paused for a moment. Vanessa was indeed correct, there was no sounds coming from the main gym area. Either the battle was over or a pokemon had fainted. We listened silently for another moment. A series of thuds echoed down the hallway followed by more sounds. The battle was back underway.

"I wonder if Steven is using more pokemon this time," I wondered aloud. "This battle seems to be taking a lot longer."

"Not necessarily," Vanessa shrugged. "Depends on who's battling. Dylan basically just had his totodile, didn't he?"

I thought about it. "Well, I guess technically he's got his bulbasaur too but I don't think he's battled with it yet. I doubt he'd bring his oddish into battle if he didn't have to so yeah, probably his bulbasaur."

Vanessa was about to say something but was cut off by the door bursting open, nearly coming off it's hinges. A white blur flew past us and slammed into the wall. As it slid down I realized it was Duke, David's mankey. It popped back up and looked at us. Duke then threw it's arms up in the air, let out a roar and charged out of the room.

"Well I guess we know who's battling now," Vanessa said slowly.

"Wow, I'm glad I sat here," I commented. "I almost sat over there. I'd have been crushed. That probably would've been unpleasant to say the least.

Vanessa snorted a laugh as we listened for sounds of battle. Anything we could make out was muffled, giving us no real indication of how things were going. Suddenly all the noises ceased. Straining my ears, I was pretty sure I could hear voices. Unfortunately I had no idea what they were saying. The sound of the door at the other end of the hallway from us told us that David had come out on top. After a moment, the door swung open into our room.

"David!" Vanessa yelled as she jumped up and planted a kiss on him. "You won!"

I leaned back against the wall and smiled. Judging from the perspiration on his face and shirt collar, I was pretty sure Steven had him on the ropes like he did with me. There was a look of relief in David's eyes.

"Congrats man," I said as I shook his hand. "How'd it go?"

"Man, it got rough there for a bit," David shook his head and sat down. "We battled four-on-four. My team isn't really set up for that. I was doing ok until-"

"Let me guess," I cut him off. "Vlad got paralyzed by Steven's nosepass?"

"Yeah! How'd you know?"

I laughed. "He got Vanessa and me with the same trick. I never saw it coming either. I got lucky and finished it off otherwise I would've been sunk."

David grinned. "Glad I'm not the only one. Yeah, so, I took out a geodude with Vlad and then he got me with his nosepass. Managed to finish it off but I got greedy with Vlad. His next geodude decimated Vlad. Basically it was me and Duke. I figured it was smooth sailing until Steven sent out an onix."

"I tangled with that thing too," I nodded. "Not fun. That onix is high leveled."

"Duke got banged around a bit," David continued. "We managed to get the win though. For a bunch of rocks, that onix is fast."

"I'm really glad I didn't have to battle it," Vanessa gloated.

"You may have avoid the onix but you haven't avoided me," I stuck out my chin and crossed my arms. "I'm already game planning for our match."

"Bring it!"

"Soon… soon."

David laughed at us. We each took our turn telling him how we won our battles with Steven. While we were recalling our victories, the sounds of battle could be heard coming down the hallway. Like before we were unable to make out what was going on.

"Sitting here is lame," Vanessa complained. "I mean we can pretty much hear the battles. He might as well let us watch."

"Maybe a TV or something in here," I agreed. "I understand him not wanting us out by the field though. He wouldn't be able to judge other trainers' skills if we were shouting advice the whole time."

I was examining the small room, looking for a spot where a viewing screen could be put, when I realized that there was no noise coming from the battlefield. Standing, I heard the far door open. I stood there, hunched over slightly, watching the door. Voices could be heard from the hallways.

"He wouldn't bring Dylan in if he didn't win, would he?" Vanessa asked aloud.

The door burst open to reveal Dylan. He stood in the doorframe, his hands on his hips. Triumph shone across his face. I laughed and approached him. He started laughing too and pulled me into a hug.

"Aren't you glad I talked you into this now?" Dylan asked as we parted.

"I can't say I'm regretting it," I grinned. "You clearly won, but how'd the battle go?"

"Pretty smooth except for a couple of rough spots."

"Let me guess," David broke in, putting his fingers to his temples like he was trying to read Dylan's mind. "Your pokemon got paralyzed by a nosepass?"

Dylan looked surprised. "Um, yeah. How'd you know?"

"Steven got all of us with the same tactic," Vanessa sighed.

"It's true," Steven said as he came up behind Dylan. "Then again, very few rookie trainers ever see it coming. That aside, all of you performed admirably today. I had no qualms at all in giving you all badges. Where are you off to next?"

We all looked at each other for a moment.

"Um, I think the next closest gym is in Chicago, right?" Dylan asked.

"Correct," Steven nodded. "It's actually in downtown Chicago."

"I'd say that's our next destination then," I confirmed. "Going to be a bit of a hike."

Steven's eyes lit up. "You're walking the Challenge? I'm glad to hear that. Most trainers drive or fly everywhere. The walking trainer is a lost style."

"Well we might hop a few buses," Dylan scratched his cheek. "If we want to make it into next year's tournament we won't have time to walk across the country."

"Don't hurry your pace too much," Steven advised. "Several of the gym leaders won't be at their gyms now. It rotates every year, but every year two gym leaders get to go to the League Tournament."

"How many days are left in the tournament?" Vanessa asked. "This is the fourth day, right?"

Steven thought for a moment. "It should be probably another week. I know the Chicago gym leader isn't there so as long as you don't make too good of time, you shouldn't have to worry about missing any of them."

We thanked Steven and Nicole when she entered the room for everything. They showed us out and got us on our way. I looked back as we walked away to see them still there. Steven had his arm around Nicole, both of them looked pleased. They almost looked like proud parents.

Dylan led us back to the pokemon center. After a quick healing and a bathroom break, we were back out on the road. It was well into the day now and the streets were much busier than before.

"Hey, we need to battle now!" Vanessa demanded as we ran across a busy street.

"Where?" I countered. "We're in the middle of the city. There's really no place unless you want to dodge cars while we battle."

"Yeah and you don't want to battle without a pokemon center nearby," David agreed. "I'm sure we'll find somewhere along the way to battle. It is going to be like a four day trip."

"That's about what I've got figured," Dylan chimed in from the front of our group. "Probably closer to five when you factor in sleeping, meals and battling though."

It took us longer to get out of the city than I expected. Between traffic on the sidewalks and traffic in the streets, it took us close to two hours. Dylan led the way with his GPS again, forging us the quickest path. Near the fringes of city, we passed another pokemon center.

"Hey, there's another pokemon center," David noted. "We're pretty near the edge of town. We should be able to battle there, presumably."

Although we were nearing the edge of the city, buildings still populated the area. There were several smaller office buildings and even a warehouse or two. One building in particular caught my attention as we were passing. Twin smokestacks rose out of the center of it, marking it as a factory. The building itself wasn't what really caught my attention, but something next to it.

I grabbed David by the sleeve and pointed. "Do you see that?"

He stopped and squinted. "Yeah, what is that? Looks like a big pile of goo."

"Yeah, but it's moving!" I added. "Come on! I bet it's pokemon!"

David seemed strangely hesitant but followed me. As we got closer the pile of goo was actually revealed to be several small piles of goo. They were literally piles of purple slime with slimy little arms. They had big white eyes above the gaping hole I assumed was a mouth. I pulled out my pokedex and pointed it at one.

"Grimer," I read aloud. "The sludge pokemon."

"Clearly poisonous," David said as he sniffed the air. "Smelly too."

"Whatever," I shrugged as I pulled Pikachu's poke ball off my belt. "Let's catch 'em."

David again looked hesitant but pulled out a poke ball too.

I hurled the poke ball. "Pikachu, let's go!"

One of the grimers had separated itself from the pack enough to be isolated. I directed Pikachu to block it off from the others. The grimer clearly understood what was happening and flung a ball of black sludge at my pokemon.

"Dodge it Pikachu!" I yelled as Pikachu dove to the side. "Now use thunder shock!"

"Ka-chu!" Pikachu shouted as lightning blasted out of it's body.

The grimer was really unhappy now. It began oozing straight for Pikachu, arms up in the arm.

"Quick attack!"

Pikachu got down on all fours and charged in at high speed but what I expected to happen didn't. Instead of the wild pokemon flying backward after contact, it stood in the same place. Pikachu on the other hand appeared to be stuck inside the grimer. It's head disappeared inside the gooey pokemon. The grimer began to ooze around Pikachu, covering anything it touched.

"Thundershock again!" I ordered. "Don't let it cover you!"

The grimer began to bulge for a moment and then was flung away. Propelled by lightning, it slammed into the side of the building. A trail of nasty slime was left where it slide down the wall. The grimer looked dazed and my pikachu looked annoyed that it was covered in grossness.

"Sorry Pikachu," I said as I aimed an empty poke ball at the downed grimer. "I've got something to make it up to you though."

The electric pokemon brightened up.

My aim was true and the poke ball bounced off the grimer. Converting it's body to energy, it pulled the poison pokemon inside. The ball fell to the ground where it shook for a moment. The red light died and the battle was now officially over. As I walked over to claim my new pokemon, I dug around in one of the side pockets of my backpack.

"Ah, here we go," I said, pulling out the TM David had given me. "This'll teach you 'iron tail'. I thought we could have some fun with that."

Pikachu cooed happily as I placed the disk inside it's poke ball. I recalled it back to it's ball and stooped down to grab Grimer's as well. My merry little band was continually getting bigger and bigger.

I headed back to where David and I had split off from the main group. David was already back, staring intently at a poke ball I assumed held the grimer he had captured.

"What's up?" I asked.

"I don't know why I caught this pokemon," he replied.

I did a double-take. "What… what do you mean? We're trainers. That's what we do."

"Not me," he said.

I motioned for him to elaborate further.

He shook his head. "I only capture pokemon that I plan on using. I can't foresee myself ever using this grimer in battle."

"But… but," I stammered. "What about the League Tournament? You have to battle on four different field types."

He shrugged. "Doesn't mean I'll use this grimer."

I was shocked. "But… but you gotta catch 'em all!"

"Yeah, no. Sorry."

"But… but… catch 'em all?"

I was still trying to overcome my confusion when Dylan and Vanessa reappeared. Vanessa looked rather steamed while Dylan seemed quite pleased.

"Let me guess, you guys caught pokemon too?" she snarled. "Everyone's catching pokemon but me!"

"What'd you guys catch?" Dylan asked me.

"We found some grimers," I told him. "What'd you find?"

"I got a ditto."

I raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? You got a ditto?"

In response, Dylan popped open a poke ball. Out of it came a purple blob. Not like Grimer, but more like an upright purple puddle. It had a mouth and eyes that looked like someone had drawn them on with a pencil.

"Well I'll be damned," I breathed. "You did catch a ditto."

"I didn't think those were found around here," David added. "You plan on using it in battle at all?"

Dylan returned the ditto to it's ball. "Haven't decided yet. There's a lot of work in being a ditto trainer. I'd have to pretty much know how every attack it could possible use functions. That might be more work than I'm willing to commit to."

"Totally," agreed Vanessa. "You'd have to spend most of your time studying up and then have to make Ditto your main pokemon otherwise all that work would go to waste."

"Exactly," Dylan nodded. "So personally I think we should head back to that last pokemon center. I can see a field up ahead that would be a great spot for battling."

Dylan pointed to the spot he was talking about. It was probably another few minutes walk from where we had stopped. I couldn't be sure but it looked to be the start of some rolling fields. Regardless, it would be a good spot for our battles.

Retracing our steps, we found the pokemon center we had passed not all that long ago. We took a moment to rest our legs while our pokemon were healed up. I slowly extended my legs out, trying to work out any cramps before I stood to get my pokemon.

I paused for a moment as I held ten poke balls in my hands. Looking them over, I carefully considered which six I would put in my belt holster. I was tempted to put Grimer into my team if for no other reason than to spite David. Charmander, Treecko, Mudkip, Pikachu and Heracross were my easy choices. Despite already having a water type, I decided to round out my team with Corphish. I decided that it deserved a reward for doing so well in it's gym battle.

Once everyone had gotten their pokemon back, we were on the road again. No words were exchanged between the four of us as we mentally prepared for battle. Slowly a rift began to form in our group. I knew I would be battling Vanessa and I had a hunch Dylan and David would face off as well. Dylan and I ended up a few feet away from David and Vanessa as we walked. The battle lines had been drawn.

As we approached the field, the distance between our two factions grew exponentially. I could see David and Vanessa quietly arguing about something. Dylan and I found a slightly raised spot in the field and made our stand there. I crossed my arms as I waited for David and Vanessa to finish their debate.

"What do you think they're arguing about?" Dylan asked.

"My guess is that he's trying to convince her to use a different strategy," I offered. "Presumably, they think they're onto me and my tendencies."

"So I assume you're going with something radically different?"

I laughed. "You know me well. But yeah, I had a new lineup I was going to try, assuming we battle with two or three. Pikachu and Heracross are the sure locks and if I need another, I'll round it out with Corphish."

Dylan whistled. "Yeah, that's a bit different than she'd be expecting. Hope that doesn't come back to bite you, you know, with none of your big guns in your lineup."

"Only one way to find out," I said with a shrug. "I'm willing to bet she goes with her big guns instead of trying something new."

"Ok, I'm ready!" Vanessa declared from across the field. "How many are we battling?"

"Two!" I called back.

"I want three!"

"Fine by me."

"Smooth," Dylan grinned.

Dylan and David moved to the side of the field to act as officials. They flipped a coin to decide that I would send out the first pokemon. Each then crossed his arms over his chest as a smug grin crept up on their faces.

The wind carried their words to me.

"I got five on Vanessa," David said.

"I'll take that," Dylan replied with no hesitation.

"You sound confident. She's on-"

"Yeah, she's on to Tim. Unfortunately Tim is on to the fact that she's on to him."

I could see David's smile waver. "Well this should be interesting then."

Dylan made the official declaration. "This battle will be a three-on-three. The winner must defeat all of their opponent's pokemon. There will be no substitutions. Tim, the first move is yours!"

I held up a poke ball for all to see. "Alright, let's get this show on the road! Pikachu, get us started!"

Starting out with Pikachu was a calculated risk on my part. Using it first would give me a good idea of what team Vanessa had put together. I was guessing that I would either get her charmander or cubone. If it was her cubone, I just had to hope that the new attack I taught Pikachu would give us the edge.

"Cubone, I choose you!" Vanessa announced.

I allowed myself a small smile.

"What're you smiling about? Vanessa demanded.

I clasped my hands behind my back. "Have you ever heard of predestination?"

Dylan smacked his forehead. "Oh man, not again."

I ignored him. "It means that all your actions have already been determined. It means you have no real choice in what happens because it's already been decided ahead of time."

Vanessa had a cautious look on her face. "What does that have to do with our battle?"

"Everything!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands out. "The ending of our battle has already been written. By sending out your cubone you've essentially already ended the battle for yourself. It's not your fault, really. I forced you into it."

David looked from me to Dylan. "What is going on?"

"Just roll with it," Dylan sighed. "When he starts this you've just got to roll with it and hope it comes back to bite him in the ass."

I seemed to be getting to Vanessa but she refocused. "Let's go already!"

"It's already over, but ok," I shrugged. "Pikachu, quick attack!"

"Meet it head on with head butt!"

Pikachu streaked across the grass, building speed and power as it moved. The small brown ground pokemon lowered it's head and charged. A big white skull covered Cubone's actual head, giving it some extra punch. Despite it charging in, I was still leery of the bone it carried in it's hands.

"Double team!" I shouted.

The electric pokemon slid to a halt. Cubone stumbled to a stop as well as it was suddenly enclosed in a circle of Pikachu's. It's head jerked around, trying to discern which was the real one.

"Use bone club on the one in front of you!" Vanessa ordered.

Cubone swung it's bone down on the Pikachu closest to it. The electric pokemon disappeared in a puff of smoke, a fake.

"Slam!"

The circle of pikachu took a bounding leap inward. They all then jumped in the air and swirled around. It turned out the pikachu directly to Cubone's left was the real one. It's tail caught it in the side of the head and sent the ground pokemon flying.

"Double team!" I shouted.

Pikachu started running at Cubone. In a split second there was an entire ring of pikachu running laps around Vanessa's pokemon. The ground pokemon was dancing around, trying to guard against an attack that could come from anywhere.

Vanessa froze for a moment. "Head butt into the ground!"

Cubone reared it's head back and then slammed it into the ground. Although it didn't cause Pikachu any damage, the tremor it created did cause it to stumble for a moment. In that moment, all the fake images flickered.

The real Pikachu was clearly visible.

"Bone club!" Vanessa roared.

Cubone hauled back with it's bone and swung for the fences. The bone hit home and Pikachu sailed through the air. My pokemon bounced across the grass and rolled to a stop a few feet in front of me. There was a little quiver in it's legs as it got back up.

"Hang in there Pikachu," I said to it. "This battle is still ours."

"Still think everything is predetermined or whatever?" Vanessa taunted.

"Oh you have no idea!" I waved my finger at her. "Pikachu, quick attack!"

A cloud of grass rose up from where Pikachu took off from. Cubone came charging in as well. It had it's bone club dragging behind it, ready for a quick strike.

"Jump!" I shouted. "Then attack!"

Cubone lunged with it's bone but Pikachu was faster. It leapt over the ground pokemon and skidded to a stop. The electric pokemon then launched itself forward with a burst of speed and took Cubone down. Pikachu jumped way back away and then started running in again.

"You'll have to do better than that!" Vanessa yelled. "You can't stop us with that! Cubone, head butt!"

"It's over! Iron tail!"

Pikachu dug it's feet into the ground as it's tail began to glow with a silver light. It twisted it's hips and swung it's tail. Cubone was swinging it's head down at that same instant. The two attacks met and for a brief second, held each other in check. Then there was an explosion and when the smoke cleared, Cubone was on the ground.

"Cubone is unable to battle!" Dylan announced. "Pikachu is the winner!"

Vanessa had a shocked look on her face as she recalled her pokemon.

"Like I said, this has been predetermined," I called to her. "You can probably blame David since he gave me the 'Iron Tail' TM."

"Just keep talking," she seethed. "This is far from over. Rattata, go!"

I caught Dylan's eye and flashed him a grin. Vanessa had chosen the pokemon I had predicted she would. I was firmly in the driver's seat now.

"Let's do it!" I grinned. "Pikachu, thundershock!"

"Use quick attack!" Vanessa countered.

Lightning lanced out of Pikachu towards Rattata, or where Rattata used to be. The small mouse pokemon was flying across the grass towards my pokemon. Pikachu tried to blast it again but Rattata was moving faster than Pikachu could aim. Rattata blazed through Pikachu without even flinching.

Pikachu slowly climbed back to it's feet as Rattata was finally slowing down. My pokemon was looking less than stellar. It's normally pointed ears were drooping down in exhaustion. I twisted my mouth as I realized I'd have to adjust how I battled with Pikachu in the future.

"Hyper fang!" Vanessa yelled, bringing me back into the moment.

Rattata came charging in, glowing fangs bared. Pikachu tensed up, bracing for a hit.

"Don't let it close!" I ordered. "Thundershock!"

Pikachu exploded with electricity again. In a surprising display of agility, Rattata leapt over the lightning and the electric pokemon. It whipped around and latched on to Pikachu with it's teeth. The glow on it's teeth pulsed as it flung my pokemon. Pikachu tumbled to the ground and didn't moved.

"Pikachu is unable to battle!" David declared. "Rattata is the winner!"

"How about that?" Vanessa taunted as I recalled my pokemon. "Still think it's all planned out?"

I held up a poke ball. "You tell me."

I simply dropped the poke ball onto the ground and Heracross exploded out. Vanessa's smile suddenly died. Heracross' fighting type gave it a huge advantage over Rattata's normal type. Vanessa was well aware of my pokemon's attack power after seeing it perform at the tournament in Lansing.

"Rattata, quick attack!" Vanessa yelled. "Hit it hard and fast!"

"You want fast? You got fast!" I shouted. "Heracross, use aerial ace!"

Heracross' carapace popped open in the back to reveal it's wings. The bug pokemon shot into the air like a rocket as Rattata raced beneath it's feet. Heracross flipped over in the air and began plummeting back to the ground. White energy began bleeding off of Heracross' horn as it got Rattata in it's sights.

Unfortunately, Rattata never saw my pokemon coming. The small purple mouse took the points of Heracross' horn in the side and was sent flying. Vanessa actually had to jump to the side as her pokemon sailed past her. The rattata eventually bounced to a stop twenty feet behind Vanessa.

"Um, I'm going to go ahead and call this one," Dylan said. "Rattata is unable to battle! Heracross is the winner!"

David whistled. "That was a hell of a hit."

"You know for thinking that everything is predetermined, you sure didn't pick your team well," Vanessa called to me.

I raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"I had a ground type to counter your electric," she began, counting them off on her fingers. "I've also got a fire type to counter your bug type."

I grinned. "Well let's just hope your fire type can finish my bug type off quickly. Remember: I've still got one pokemon left and it isn't good news for you."

"Nuh uh."

I looked to Dylan. "I told you my team before the match."

Dylan sighed and nodded. "Yeah, it's not good news for you Vanessa."

Vanessa sputtered. She was so angry she couldn't even form words.

"After the match, I'll explain," I said. "Now send out your pokemon!"

Vanessa released her charmander onto the field. I considered my options as a breeze rustled the grass. Odds were Heracross would face off against numerous fire types in our journey. Now was as good of a time as any to figure out how to combat them.

"Charmander, flamethrower!" Vanessa yelled.

I snapped back into the moment. "Take to the skies Heracross!"

Heracross rocketed upwards as the river of flames toasted where it had been standing. Charmander's head lulled backwards and the flamethrower followed Heracross into the sky.

I balled my hands into fists. "Dodge it!"

The bug pokemon began darting back and forth in an effort to elude the fire attack. Vanessa's charmander proved to have good eyesight as it was able to follow Heracross' movements and keep after it.

A plan began formulating in my head. "Get in closer Heracross!"

"Hera!" it cried in acknowledgment after a near miss.

Still darting around the sky, my pokemon slowly closed the gap between the battling pokemon. Heracross was soon almost directly above Charmander. Charmander was still blasting away at full power, trying to knock my pokemon from the air.

"Go into a nose dive!" I yelled and Heracross plummeted in response. "Then fury attack!"

Right before hitting the ground, Heracross' wings started beating again. It landed smoothly and then lunged forward. In rapid succession, it jabbed at Charmander with it's horn. Vanessa's pokemon took several hits before twisting away.

"Metal claw!" Vanessa shouted.

Her charmander's claws began to glow. It jumped forward and clocked Heracross in the side of the head. My pokemon stumbled away but quickly regained it's footing. The two pokemon glared at each other.

Vanessa saw her chance. "Ember!"

I saw my chance as well. "Horn attack!"

As Charmander spun to launch the embers from it's tail, Heracross' wings popped back out and propelled it forward.

"Hera-cross!" my pokemon screamed.

Charmander was a step too slow. Heracross slammed it's horn into Charmander's lower back, driving it to the ground. The fire pokemon lay on it's stomach, not done for yet. Heracross loomed above it. I readied for what I hoped would be the final strike.

Vanessa struck first. "Flamethrower!"

Faster than I'd seen it move yet, Vanessa's charmander rolled over. It and Heracross were basically face to face. Unfortunately, Heracross and I didn't have a chance to react. The flamethrower caught my pokemon full force, head on. Heracross stood it's ground for a moment but then was knocked back by the power of the fire attack.

"Heracross!" I yelled. "Are you ok?"

It winced as it tried to pick itself up. The bug pokemon fell back down. It tried again. Heracross almost made it back to it's feet but crashed again. It didn't try for a third time.

David stepped forward. "Heracross is unable to battle! Charmander is the winner!"

Vanessa jutted her chin out at me, daring me to send out my next pokemon. She was clearly banking on Dylan and I being liars. It wasn't a bad theory, just the wrong one.

I stuck out my arm and recalled Heracross. "Good work my friend. Corphish, let's finish this up!"

On the sidelines, David shook his head. "You weren't kidding."

I shrugged. "How many times do I have to tell you this? Predetermined."

"It's not over!" Vanessa shouted. "Charmander, scratch attack!"

I shook my head. "Yes, yes it is. Bubblebeam!"

Corphish's claws snapped open. The shimmering bubbles blasted Vanessa's charmander right in the chest, taking it down. Heracross had worn it down enough that that was all we needed.

"Charmander is unable to battle!" Dylan waved his hand towards me. "Victory to Corphish and Tim!"

"Corphish!" my pokemon called as it pumped it's claw in the air.

I laughed and recalled it to it's poke ball. I tossed the poke ball in the air with my left hand and then snatched it with my right. Attaching it to my belt, I walked over to where Dylan and David were standing.

"So how did you predict all that?" David asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

I shook my head. "Sorry. Trade secrets."

Dylan sighed and slumped his shoulders. "Don't even bother. He won't tell you. Not until he uses it on you, anyways. Shall we get the show on the road?"

David hesitated slightly and then followed Dylan onto the field. As they moved to the trainer areas Vanessa and I had used, they decided on making it a one-on-one battle.

"You know the rules!" I announced, stepping forward on to the field. "Let's get it on!"

They both hurled their poke balls onto the grassy field. Vlad burst forth on David's side. On Dylan's end, Totodile appeared. The two water pokemon stared each other down. The battle was underway.

"So tell me how you did it." Those were Vanessa's first words since our battled ended.

I couldn't help but smile. "It wasn't that hard."

She was really fuming now.

"Not in the way you're thinking," I assured her. "Basically I pulled it off because I knew what pokemon you have."

Vanessa considered this for a moment. "I don't get it."

I put a hand on her shoulder. "Well, no offense to the rest of your team but you didn't have a choice on who you used against me. A metapod wasn't going to do any good against any pokemon I might've used."

She looked up at me, still a little confused. "So… basically my team was predictable?"

I clucked my tongue. "Well that was only part of it. If Pikachu had lost to your cubone, the whole thing would've been moot. Basically I just had to beat your first pokemon. After that, I got to adapt to whatever you sent out next."

We paused momentarily as Vlad and Totodile crashed together out in the field.

"So because you got to choose your pokemon based on what I had on the field, you could give the illusion that it was all part of a grand plan?" Vanessa finally put the pieces together.

I nodded. "Exactly. If I didn't know your team, though, I couldn't have done it. Being able to narrow down what I'm going to be facing is key."

"That's all?"

I wiggled my head around for a moment as I thought. "Well, yes and no. There's a lot thinking that goes into it. Sure straight-up offensive attacking is good, but some times you need to think things through. Think a few steps ahead."

We were silent for a moment as the two water pokemon darted around the field, firing water guns at each other. I started to wish that I had been paying closer attention. This seemed like it was shaping up to be a classic.

Dylan pointed ahead. "Get in there close, Totodile! Bite!"

David shook his head. "No way! Vlad, use bubble to slow it down!"

Totodile let out a squawk and charged in. Vlad began filling the space between them with bubbles. David had to know that they wouldn't do much damage but I had a hunch he had something else in mind. Totodile ran straight into the cloud of bubbles without a second thought.

"Don't move!" Dylan roared.

Whatever David had planned, Dylan didn't plan on seeing it. Totodile was cloaked in bubbles. They distorted it's image, making it next to impossible to know exactly where the pokemon was.

"Those bubbles won't last much longer," Vanessa noted. "What's the point of just standing there?"

I shrugged. "You got me. Sure Totodile is resting but so is Vlad. I'm sure they both have some kind of plan though."

David decided to end the standoff. "Rapid spin! Knock Totodile out of there!"

Pulling all it's limbs and head inside it's shell, Vlad began spinning. The squirtle's spinning actually launched it off the ground towards Dylan pokemon.

"Water gun!" Dylan yelled.

A blast of water shot out of the bubbles. Fueled most likely more by luck than aim, it clipped a spinning Vlad. Vlad lost control of it's spin and crashed into the ground. The bubbles dissipated to reveal Totodile. The alligator pokemon had a calm look on it's face. It was practically daring David to attack it again. Vlad climbed to it's feet and returned the look.

Vanessa looked from one pokemon to the other and shook her head. "It's over."

I looked down and cocked an eyebrow. "How do you figure?"

"I've seen that look before, especially on Vlad. It's a fake confidence. Totodile's got the same look. Neither of them have anything left. The next one to land an attack is going to win the battle."

Looking closely, I could see what she was talking about. Both pokemon were projecting an image of confidence but a fear shone in their eyes. Vanessa was right.

"Good call," I admitted. "I didn't see that until you said something."

"I'm getting better at spotting that stuff," she said. "I used to think pokemon was all about battling. Now I know there's more to it than that. What you did to me made me see that even more."

I grunted. "Glad to be of help."

A breeze ruffled the grass between the two pokemon. It was like a standoff from a western movie. We were just waiting to see who was the quicker draw.

"Dive and water gun!" both Dylan and David yelled to our surprise.

Both pokemon dove to their right as they fired their water guns. Unfortunately their movements left them vulnerable to a well-placed shot. Each attacks aim was true. The two water pokemon speared each other out of the air. They skipped across the grass. Neither moved.

We all held our breath.

A few moments past and I stepped forward. "I'm going to call it. Both Totodile and Vlad are unable to battle! This match is a draw!"

The competitors collected their pokemon and moved to the center of the field. They shook hands before coming over to the side. Despite the draw, they both had pleased looks on their faces.

"That was pretty entertaining," I said with a nod. "Going to have a tie-breaker battle?"

David looked at his watch. "Not likely. We should probably get to the pokemon center and head out. There's a long trip ahead of us."

Dylan clapped David on the shoulder. "There will be a tie-breaker eventually. Just not today. Let's go."

Slinging our backpacks over our shoulders, we turned back towards the city. Navigating the hustle and bustle of the work place we navigated our way back to the pokemon center we had seen on the fringes of town. While we waited for our pokemon to be healed, Dylan made certain to charge his GPS battery some.

"Wouldn't want to be in the middle of nowhere and have it die," he said. "That would suck on a number of levels."

With our pokemon healed, we headed back out into the world. Lead by Dylan and his GPS we angled towards Chicago. The sun was high in the sky still. City soon gave way to rolling hills and fields. We crossed over and under several highways in an attempt to keep going on a straight course.


	17. Chapter 17

The sun was beginning to angle downward when Dylan called a halt.

"We should probably rest and eat," he said. "I know I'm getting hungry."

I dropped my pack to the ground and lowered myself down into the grass. I spread my legs out and leaned forward to stretch out a bit. My legs weren't used to this much constant walking. Digging into my pack, I pulled out some beef jerky and dried fruit to munch on.

"I kind of expected to see more pokemon," I said between bites. "I only saw a few flocks of bird pokemon fly by."

"This isn't a video game," Dylan replied around a mouthful of granola bar. "We aren't going to be running into pokemon every four steps."

"Oh man, that'd be awesome!" Vanessa exclaimed. "Think about how many we could catch!"

David chuckled. "Yeah but think about how much longer it would take us to get places. It'd easily double our travel time."

I snorted. "Not for you. You wouldn't catch half the pokemon you saw."

Dylan looked around, rather confused. "Wait, what?"

"I only catch pokemon that I think I would use in the future," David explained with a sigh.

Dylan blinked in disbelief. "What?"

"I don't need to catch every pokemon I see to justify myself as a trainer. If I don't plan on using a pokemon, I might as well let some other trainer who might capture it."

"…what?"

I snickered and looked over at Vanessa. "You don't use that same school of thought do you?"

"Psht, no!" she scoffed with a wave of her hand. "I catch as many pokemon as I can! Except, you know, if I already have one of that species."

Dylan shook his head, trying to wrap his mind around things. "So… what if you caught a pokemon and it turned out to not be as useful as you thought? Would you get rid of it?"

"No way, I'd still care for it." David assured him with a shake of his head. "I'd find a way to make it a valuable team member. Even if it was just a sidelines cheerleader, I'd make it feel useful and loved."

"But how would you know if you were going to use a pokemon if you've never had it before?" Dylan asked, rubbing his temples. "Do you have a list of the only pokemon you'd catch?"

David was clearly getting annoyed now. "No, I just go by intuition. If I see potential for use, I capture it. If not, I let it be. It's really not that difficult."

Dylan looked at me. "Do you understand this at all?"

"Do I understand it? Sure," I said, trying to be diplomatic. "It may not be what I'd do, but I guess I can understand it. Not everyone has Professor Oak to send pokemon to so they don't sit in a poke ball for six years."

That seemed to register with him. "Ah, yes. I guess I can see that. I guess I understand the premise but not the application, I guess."

David shrugged. "Good enough."

We spent the next few moments chewing in silence. I glanced at my watch. Night was going to be upon us soon.

"Hey, we might want to get moving," I suggested. "How far away is the nearest city?"

"Probably farther than we're going to want to walk," Dylan admitted sheepishly. "I'd plan on camping out tonight."

We climbed back to our feet once we finished our food. Tucking our trash away in our packs, we continued on our way again. As far as I could tell we were still making good time. I still found it strange that we didn't run into anything, person or pokemon.

Night fell on us soon. We found ourselves a nice clearing to set up camp. Collecting some branches and brush from a nearby patch of trees, David managed to get a fire going. The flames provided us with a pleasant amount of heat and enough light to see each other with.

David stared into the crackling fire. "Now this is the life. I love camping."

I had never been that big into camping but I found myself enjoying myself. The clouds had parted giving me a nice view of the stars. Amidst the crackling fire, I could hear the sounds of nature. It was strangely comforting.

Vanessa suddenly dove into her bag and came out with a surprise. "I figured we might be camping so I brought s'mores stuff!"

We got a good laugh but were all grateful that she had brought them. The chocolate and roasted marshmallows really hit the spot. Dylan fiddled with his GPS while David and I stuck more marshmallows into the fire.

"So tell me," I said to David as I rotated my marshmallow, "since you don't plan on catching a lot of pokemon, what ones do you think you will catch?"

David paused for a moment to think. "Not really sure off the top of my head on specific ones. That'd be too hard to narrow it down. Probably just at least one of most of the types. Fire, grass, probably a bug type. I would hesitate if a good psychic pokemon presented itself either. What about you?"

I gave him a shrug. "I've already got a lot of types covered. I don't need a ground type because Mudkip evolves to a ground type. I'd like to add a rock or steel type for sure. Definitely wouldn't pass on a ghost or psychic type either."

"So remember how I said we could make it to Chicago in five days?" Dylan broke in.

I looked at him. "I don't like how this is starting…"

He scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, well technically we could make it there in five days… if we walked constantly. Factoring in breaks and stuff… it's going to be more like ten days."

The others and I threw our heads back with a collective groan. Ten days was a long time to be walking. We'd either have to stop into a town to get more food or eat at a few restaurants along the way.

"Welp, not a whole lot we can do about it," Vanessa sighed. "Might as well make the best of it."

"So who influences you?" David looked to Dylan. "Any particular trainer that you look up to?"

Dylan put a hand on his chin in thought. "I was a swimmer in high school so I always liked water pokemon. That kind of translated to ice pokemon too. I always looked up to Brian Boitono."

Vanessa looked skeptical. "The figure skater?"

"Yeah that's him. Hell of a trainer too." Dylan looked up at the sky. "Sometimes, when I'm unsure, I ask myself 'what would Brian Boitono do?'"

David looked around. "If he were here right now?"

A smile formed on my face. "He'd make a plan and follow through."

Dylan snapped his fingers and pointed at me. "_That's _what Brian Boitono'd do."

"You guys are weird," Vanessa sighed with a shake of her head.

"You're just jealous because Brian Boitono is awesome."

"Yeah, that's it." Sarcasm dripped from Vanessa's words.

As I looked up into the sky, my thoughts turned more serious. "So do we want to arrange a rotation for keeping watch? I don't think we want to sleep unguarded. Some random person or pokemon could come by and take our stuff."

"I may have the answer for that," David replied as he went to his belt. "Al!"

He tossed the poke ball into the air and out of it popped his zubat. I had seen zubats before but there was something different about David's. I couldn't put my finger on what it was though.

"So what do you say Al?" David asked it. "Will you keep a watch out for us while we sleep?"

The pokemon looked less than enthusiastic.

"I'll let you sit on my head tomorrow."

Now the zubat was fluttering around excitedly. As it rose up into the sky, even something about it's flying seemed different. Again, what it was eluded me.

"Is it just me or is there something different about your zubat?" I asked.

David smiled. "Al's… a little special."

Dylan and I looked at each other and raised an eyebrow.

"Al only has one fang."

I was taken aback. "Seriously?"

David nodded. "Yup. Makes using 'bite' a lot less effective. Al also occasionally flies a little off-kilter."

"Yeah, I noticed that," Dylan nodded. "That have any effect on attacks?"

"Not really," David said with a shrug. "Becomes a bit more difficult for opponents to land attacks."

I laughed. "Well I guess that balances out then."

"Shhh!" We looked over to see that Vanessa had curled up in her sleeping bag.

"That doesn't seem like a bad idea," Dylan said through a yawn. "I'm beat."

David and I couldn't argue that. We unpacked our sleeping bags and laid them around the fire. We were close enough to feel it's warmth but away from any potential danger. Saying our goodnights, we tucked ourselves in.

I put my hands behind my head and just stared up into the sky.

Although a lot was running through my mind, the clear sky kept me at peace. I ran through potential attack combinations I could use. With an eye towards the future, I considered the layout of my team. None of my pokemon were strong against electricity. A number of them were weak against it though. I had nine or so more days to think about it so I let myself drift off to sleep.

When I woke up the next morning, the fire had apparently gone out during the night. It was probably for the best since it was shaping up to be a warm June day. I slithered out of my sleeping bag. Combing my fingers through my hair, I realized I hadn't showered in over a day. For me, that was a long time.

"Morning sleepy-head," Dylan said.

Shaking my head to clear the cobwebs, I looked around. Dylan and David looked to have been awake for a while now. They had already packed up all their things. Using hand motions, they looked to be exchanging battle stories. Vanessa was still snoozing in her sleeping bag.

I shook my head. "How is it Vanessa was the first one asleep and the last one awake?"

David snickered. "Vanessa needs lots of sleep. She was trying to get better about it. Clearly, it's not working right now."

A smile formed on my face. I pulled my hat out of my bag and slapped it onto my head. After a brief pause, I twisted it around so it was backwards. Putting some deodorant on, I decided to change my shirt as well.

"You clearly aren't used to not showering," David observed. "You're going to want to learn to not change your clothes every day."

"Yeah, I know," I sighed. "Old habits die hard."

I looked over at Vanessa. Despite our conversations, she was still snoozing away.

Dylan looked at David. "Do we wake her?"

David thought for a moment. "Can if you want to. It's not like we're in a hurry. If she doesn't wake up in another fifteen minutes or so, we can wake her up then."

I wiped my eyes and then put on my glasses. "Sounds good. What were you guys talking about?"

"Just sharing some battle stories and ideas and such." Dylan covered up a yawn. "David was asking what was your strongest pokemon."

I paused for a moment. "Well what do you mean by strongest? If you're talking just straight-up strength, it's Heracross hands down. If you're factoring in all the other factors and intangibles, well, that's another story."

"Factoring in all that other stuff." David motioned for it with his hand. "Like Duke is my strongest physically, but factor in everything else? It's Vlad."

I looked at Dylan. "I already know yours, but I bet you didn't tell David."

Dylan gave me a tight-lipped smile.

"Well with all the other factors, my strongest is Charmander but Treecko makes it a close battle."

Dylan looked skeptical. "Charmander doesn't have nearly the speed of Treecko. That doesn't tip the scales?"

"Nah, not really. Charmander has more powerful attacks. Once they each evolve, it might be a whole other story. Charmander also has one intangible: it wants to win for me. It's used Blaze a couple times to help me win. That's not to say that Treecko doesn't, but Charmander seems to have a deeper desire to win for me."

Dylan considered that. "Yeah, I suppose I can see that. Once Treecko learns some stronger attacks you might have to revise that."

I laughed. "Yeah probably but I'm not really worried about it. I don't care about who's my strongest. I care about who gets the job done."

"Spoken like a dedicated trainer," David said with a smile. "Is your permanent team already pretty much set?

I hesitated. I hadn't really thought about it. Now that David mentioned it, it was pretty much set already. "I guess, yeah. I just need something for the six-slot. The other pokemon I have share too many weaknesses with the ones in my team already."

"That's not to say you wouldn't switch them around if the situation called for it." Dylan gave me a nod. "I mean you've already subbed Corphish in twice now."

"Well, yeah. I'm going to maximize my winning potential."

Vanessa now stirred. One eye cracked open slowly. Suddenly her eyes shot open and she sat up. We had to chuckle as she pieced together where she was. The look of confusion on her face fade eventually. I hoped this would become a morning ritual because it was downright entertaining.

"Morning sunshine!" Dylan chirped.

Vanessa replied with something unintelligible.

With a grin, I stood. Or tried to. My grin faded as I was about halfway up and turned into a teeth grinding grimace. All that walking and sleeping on the ground had not been kind to my muscles. My lower back locked up completely.

"Well now that was fun," David grinned. "You alright?"

I winced as I finally made it upright. "Yeah, well, maybe not right now. Eventually though. I'm sure I'll loosen up once we get moving."

Vanessa was finally functioning so we packed up. At first the sun filled the sky as we traveled west and slightly south. Soon the sun gave way to clouds. Those clouds then formed into darker clouds. We quickened our pace.

"Oh this is not good," Vanessa groaned as rain drops began to fall.

"How far are we away from, well, anything?" I asked Dylan.

He whipped out the GPS and fiddled with it for a moment. "Far enough away that we're going to get soaked getting there."

"There's a big cluster of tree." David pointed them out maybe one-hundred yards from where we stood. "They're probably our best bet for shelter."

Getting a grip on the shoulder straps of my backpack, I followed the others at a slow trot. The rain picked up. Despite it being June, it was an icy cold rain. By the time we reached the trees, our clothes were fairly damp. Luckily the trees had grown close enough together to shield us from a fair amount of rain.

Silence fell upon us. The steady rainfall filled the void our conversations left. I was content to watch the rain. David was not. He reached to his belt and pulled a poke ball off of it. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the ball out into the rain. Vlad looked around and up into the sky. The trainer and pokemon exchanged a nod. Vlad began to move around.

"What's Vlad doing?" Dylan asked, leaning against a tree.

"Training," David replied simply without taking his eyes off Vlad.

I frowned. The pokemon seemed to be perfecting it's attacks as well as build up speed and strength.

"I didn't think a pokemon could level up like that," Dylan said.

David gave him a shrug without turning. "Level up? No, probably not. Improve? Definitely."

"Do you do this with all your pokemon?"

"Not usually. Mostly just Vlad and Duke."

I frowned again. I had never heard of this kind of training. If I hadn't seen David's pokemon in action, I might've completely dismissed it. Even so, I wasn't sure I bought into it either. I decided it wasn't a big enough deal to get worked up about though. Dylan looked like he might be, but then Vanessa changed the subject.

"Hey, do you guys want a metapod?"

I turned my head to look at her. "You want to trade yours? Right now?"

She smiled and simply pointed up. My eyes followed her finger up. Attached to the underside of some of the larger branches were green growths. They weren't really growths but looked it at first glance. They were stubby and green but the pair of yellow eyes gave them away as the bug pokemon metapod.

I blinked in surprise. "Wow, nice find! There's a bunch of them up there. Anyone else going to get one?"

"I've got a caterpie. That'll eventually evolve into one."

"I've already got one."

David simply waved it off.

Shaking my head at David's strategy, I dug into my backpack. Eventually I produced an empty poke ball. Tossing it to myself, I debated. Metapod were normally weak pokemon until they evolved into butterfree. After consulting with my pokedex, I decided that I wasn't going to need to battle it.

I side-armed the ball up into the tree. It bounced off the closest metapod and pulled it inside. I caught the ball with a lunge forward. The light blinked for the final time as I looked down and then dimmed.

"Easy enough."

Dylan barked a laughed. "I would've been worried if you'd had trouble catching a metapod. I mean, they don't even move."

"Hey man, those things can be tricky."

We spent the next hour or so trying to make ourselves comfortable under a tree shelter. After constantly trying to relocate to avoid being dripped on, I finally just settled on a comfortable spot with a sigh. I dug in my backpack and found my rain poncho. Pulling it over my head and down under my butt, I made myself comfortable on the ground. The poncho kept the subtle dripping off of me but it wouldn't have stood a chance against the rain storm. Closing my eyes, I tried to get a little nap in.

I wasn't sure how long I had slept for but when I opened my eyes, the rain was fading. The heavy clouds had moved past us and the sun was starting to peek through. With the worst of the weather past, we found our path again. We put a little extra hustle in our steps as we tried to recoup the lost time. Passing a few towns, we stopped at a larger one.

"Anyone need to pick up any poke balls or anything?" I pointed to the poke mart upcoming on our left.

We all checked our supplies and decided that we were in good shape.

"What about food?" Vanessa asked. "We didn't really eat breakfast."

Dylan's stomach growled. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"We could just grab some fast food to-go," David suggested. "That way we can keep moving. Speaking of moving…" He trailed off as he looked through a window at a television that had the weather channel on. "Looks like there's a good chance of rain again tonight. Are we going to be able to make it to the next city or whatever? Rather not camp in the rain."

Dylan already had his GPS out. He tapped a few buttons and appeared to be making some mental calculations. "We should make the next one no problem. The one after that… it'd be pushing it. I say we make for the next city and stay there. It's about a three hour walk."

"Can we stop at the pokemon center here first?" Vanessa asked.

I looked at her, confused. "Why? We didn't do any battling."

"_You_ didn't go any battling," she corrected me. "While you were napping, I caught a paras."

I frowned. "We found paras and no one woke me up?"

"There was only one," David said with a shrug. "And she saw it first."

I gave a shrug too. "Eh, that's cool. I can't see myself using a paras anyway. Actually a trip to the pokemon center wouldn't be a bad idea. Dylan, you and I should send some pokemon to the professor."

Dylan looked up at the suggestion. "I had totally forgotten that we could do that. We definitely should."

Conveniently, there was a McDonald's right across the street from the pokemon center. Dylan, Vanessa and I gave David our orders and money and headed for the center. Vanessa healed her pokemon and went to join David. Dylan and I tried to figure out the transfer machine.

It was a large contraption, probably eight feet tall. It had thick cables going in and out of the wall it was next to. There was an elevated curved platform that appeared to be built to put a poke ball on. Above it was something that I had no idea what it was but was clearly something science-y. About waist height was a keyboard with a small screen.

"Ok, let's see here." I put the poke ball containing my metapod on the curved platform. Setting my fingers on the keys, I looked at the screen. It was asking for a sending location. I dug the card with Professor Oak's transfer code out of my wallet and typed it in. Taking a small step back, I hit the transfer button.

The screen flashed for a moment as it processed the code. The code disappeared and was replaced with "PROFESSOR OAK, SAMUEL'. The thing above the platform began to crackle. Blue electricity lanced out and touched the poke ball. In one blinding burst of light, it was gone. The only thing indicating anything had happened was the screen flashing 'TRANSFER COPLETE. SEND ANOTHER?'.

Dylan gave a small laugh. "Not too painless, I guess."

I transferred Pidgey, Bulbasaur, Zubat and Metapod back to Oak's Michigan lab. Dylan sent his zubat, caterpie and wurmple. Now we each carried only seven pokemon. Six on our belts and one in our bags. Neither of us had any real plans to use the pokemon we'd sent back, so better to let them roam at Oak's lab. As we walked to the door, David and Vanessa walked in.

They handed us each a bag of food. "Let's roll."

"So it's going to be another seven days until we get to Chicago?" I asked as I waved my food around while I talked. "Man, we're definitely going to have to catch a bus or two when we head to the next gyms. Either that or skip next year's tournament and go for the year after."

"Yeah, no way," David scoffed. "We can finish this in less than a year. A bus here and there and we'll make it with no problem."

Dylan swallowed a mouthful. "Speaking of the tournament, anyone have any idea how the tournament is going? I'm not even sure where they're at. Quarter finals?"

"I think it's actually preliminaries," Vanessa corrected him. "I seem to recall last year it took them the entire first week to narrow down the tournament field. Of course it all varies on how many people enter. Pretty sure it was a big group this year."

David nodded. "We should try to catch a match or two. Odds are we're going to run into some of them at the next tournament. Or at least similar trainers or pokemon. It'd definitely be worth seeing how vast of a field of pokemon there are."

We started to share memories of some of our favorite matches we'd seen over the past few years.

My personal favorite was one from a few years ago that ended in a titanic clash between a charizard and a blaziken. Dylan recalled one from a preliminary match where a trainer's krabby evolved mid-battle and then swept the opponent. Complete with a physical reenactment, Vanessa told us the story of a battle on a water field where a trainer tricked his opponent into freezing the field so his grovyle could battle the opponent's walrein on sold ground. A favorite of David's was when a trainer used his charizard to melt the rock field and use the steam cloud to get in close to the opposing blastoise to deliver the finishing blow.

Discussion slowly drifted from tournament battles, to discussion of the Elite Four. Since the winner of the tournament had to go through the Elite Four before facing the Champion, we started discussing our game plan for battling them.

"I've got to tell you, as it stands right now, I don't stack up very well." I gave a sigh and cracked my knuckles. "With the pokemon I have now, assuming they're leveled up to a stage where I'd get that far, I'd fare well against the ice Elite. I could maybe hold my own against the fighting Elite but that'd be about it. I don't think any of my pokemon naturally learn anything to help battle ghost or dragon types."

"Isn't that kind of speculation kind of dumb?" Vanessa asked. "I mean, you've got to figure you wouldn't be facing them for over a year. Even David plans on catching more pokemon by then."

Dylan and I cracked up. David just shot her a look.

"Nothing wrong with a little fantasizing," Dylan laughed. "Makes you realize what types you need to catch or what moves your pokemon will eventually need to know. Not that it matters for Tim since I'll be the one facing the Elite Four anyway."

I glanced at him through slitted eyes. "That's awfully big talk."

"Well considering I'm two and zero against you, history is in my favor. Take that."

Frowning, I realized that I really couldn't argue the point. I knew I wasn't going to get another rematch any time soon either. Not until he had to reveal Gyarados to Vanessa and David, would he. He also wouldn't battle me without it because he knew how close to beating him I came. I just had to keep hoping the moment was on the horizon.

"Speaking of battling… we should do that soon." Vanessa had a look of excitement in her eyes. "It's been a few days."

"This is true," David agreed with a slow nod of his head. "How do we want to do it this time?"

Dylan was quick to respond. "Well Tim and I have clearly faced each other a few times. I'm guessing you two have as well. We've all faced each other at least once. Where does that leave us at?"

Vanessa's eyes lit up. "Double battle!"

"Eh, I don't know," I grimaced. "I'm not a huge fan of double battles. I think I'd have a bit of an issue controlling two pokemon at once."

"No, I meant me and David versus you guys," she corrected me. "Everyone gets one pokemon. Winner take all."

I looked at Dylan. He looked at me. I shrugged. He shrugged.

"Game on."

"I'm thinking we should be getting fairly close to the town I said we should rest at tonight," Dylan said. "Once we get outside of town we should battle. That way we're close to a pokemon center, you know, just in case."

David gave a solemn nod. "Good thinking. Any idea how much longer?"

Dylan just shrugged. "Probably another hour. Maybe a little less."

"Ok, then here's something to pass the time," Vanessa offered up. "Obviously only one of us can be the Champion. Let's pretend we were the final four in the tournament. What do you do if you lose?"

"Oooh, good one," I said as we all fell into a momentary silence.

This was actually something that I hadn't considered one bit. Since Dylan and I had set out, I had been in the mindset that I was going to win the whole tournament. Never once had I even considered what may happen, what I might do if I didn't come out on top. Now I was faced with this sobering prospect that I was not infallible.

"Is Elite Four an option?" Dylan was the first to speak. "I'd totally take a spot in that group."

Vanessa snorted. "Yeah me too. Though I think it's a requirement that you only use one type of pokemon."

"See, I always thought that was stupid." David gave a shake of his head. "If the Elite Four are really supposed to be the ultimate test before facing the League Champion, they should be able to use whatever pokemon they want. That'd make it a much more of a challenge."

"Well, I'm pretty sure they're given some leeway like the gym leaders," Dylan countered. "The last battle I saw with the fighting Elite, he used an onix and a steelix. Clearly not fighting types. I think as long as they know moves that relate to their central type, they're ok."

David gave a quick point of his finger. "See, that's closer but still not the same. They should be like the League Champion: given free reign."

I shook my head. "Yeah, but they're not the champion. That's the Champ's right to use whatever pokemon they want. That's how they got to their position."

"Speaking of the champ, who is the champ right now?" Dylan asked. "I haven't seen him around lately. No one's cleared the Elite Four in the last few years."

We had no answers for him so we let silence take us. The quiet carried us for a decent chunk of time. Eventually the city that Dylan had suggested we stay in tonight began to come into view. It was still a little ways out, but I started planning anyway.

Dylan and I had a number of pokemon that complemented each other well. His oddish and my mudkip had worked well together in the past. So had Charmander and Zigzagoon and Totodile. We had a few of the same types but only would we risk being really hurt would be if we both sent out our fire types. David was most likely using his squirtle and Vanessa had taken a liking to her new cubone. Given just that information, Treecko seemed like the obvious choice.

Vanessa's thoughts seemed to parallel my own. "We're getting pretty close. You guys ready to battle?"

I cast a glance over at Dylan. He gave me a confident nod that I returned. His demeanor told me he had considered his choices as well. I had to figure he had used the same criteria as I did. A hunch told me he was going with Cyndaquil in case Vanessa wanted to try out her new paras. My confidence in my selection grew.

We had been lucky in finding our past few battlefields. No clear flat, grassy patches were available here. Our options was a grouping of decently spaced trees or what appeared to be a dying grass field. Clumps of brown dirt had been churned up and large rocks seemed to have been pulled out as well, leaving sizeable holes in the ground. Despite the trees most likely favoring Treecko, I went along with the group consensus to use the grassy-dirt field. We chose sides and spaced ourselves apart.

Dylan stepped forward to make the announcement. "This will be a two-on-two battle! Each trainer will use one pokemon. The battle will be over both of one side's pokemon are unable to battle. To keep things fair, everyone will release their pokemon at the same time. On the count of three?"

He stepped back. I clutched Treecko's poke ball in my right hand. Dylan counted to three. I swept my hand across my body and then back across, casting off the poke ball on the way back. Treecko burst onto the field, looking supremely confident. Glancing at Dylan's pokemon, I wished I could share it's confidence.

I had been completely wrong in my assessment of Dylan's confidence. He wasn't so much confident in his pokemon as he was that I would be able to help mask it's shortcomings of not having much experience. Bulbasaur was one of the last pokemon that I had expected Dylan to pick.

A calming feeling washed over me. Treecko was on the field. It was one of my strongest, most experienced pokemon. I could lead the attack and Dylan and his bulbasaur could give us support. This battle will still go alright.

That calming feeling quickly disappeared as I looked across the field. Not only had my assessment of Dylan been wrong, but my assessment of my opponents had been wrong as well. A squirtle and cubone did not await us. Instead, in their places hovered a zubat and a tailow, both of them flying type pokemon.

I turned to Dylan. "You went with Bulbasaur? That was one of the last pokemon I expected you to use!"

He shot me a hateful look. "It's never going to get experience if I don't use it! I didn't expect them to both use flying pokemon anyway! We're just going to have to make due with what we've got."

Clenching my jaw, I turned back to the battlefield. Vanessa and David were looking confident, Vanessa particularly so. I had a hunch that this was her idea somehow. Somehow I knew we had to pull this out somehow and salvage some dignity.

"Treecko, use quick attack on Tailow!"

"Counter with quick attack, Tailow!"

The small blue and red bird came rocketing down out of the sky as the green lizard streaked across the field, energy trails in their wake. Treecko leapt off the ground to meet Tailow in midair. They smashed into each other, suspended in the air for a half second and then flung apart by physics. Treecko landed on it's feet but the force behind it had it sliding back through the loose dirt.

David was ready to jump into the fray. "Al, use leech life on Treecko!"

With a flap of it's wings, the zubat dove down towards the ground. It's one fang glowed a pale green, something I attributed to the attack's bug type. It was not going to be good unless I acted fast.

"Vine whip!"

Before I could issue a command, two dark green vines punched Al out of the air. I traced them back to their origin: Bulbasaur. It looked slightly annoyed at having been forgotten in the battle so soon. Al managed to dust itself off and was back in the air again.

I looked to Dylan. "We're going to have to come up with something good. Pretty sure they both have flying type moves and all our strong grass moves aren't going to do much good."

He nodded. "Let it play out. Let's just keep this up for now. We'll try something big later."

"Tailow, use peck on Treecko!"

Suddenly I noticed how sharp Tailow's beak actually was. "Dodge it!"

Tailow swooped down. With a big flap of it's wings, it hovered right above Treecko and started jabbing at it with it's beak. Treecko twisted, turned, jumped and ducked in an attempt to avoid the bird pokemon's attack. Vanessa's tailow was much stronger and faster than I had realized.

"Pound!" Pivoting on one foot in a dodging attempt, Treecko whipped it's broad tail around. Tailow's head was still lunged forward. The attack caught the flying pokemon in the head and knocked it aside. Leaving Treecko open to a wing attack from Al.

The zubat clotheslined Treecko, it's wings glowing with a white energy. My grass pokemon was swept off it's feet and crashed down hard. It winced but got back up to it's feet. I could see the fighting brimming in it's yellow eyes.

Dylan joined the fray. "Use tackle on Al!"

The green skinned grass pokemon bounded for the low flying poisonous pokemon on it's short legs. David called for it to climb into the sky. I wasn't going to let that happen. "Bullet seed!"

Treecko turned and fired. The seeds cut across Al's path to the open air. This left Al with a split-second decision to make: try to withstand Bulbasaur's tackle attack or try and fly up through the seeds and hope for not much damage. The choice was made for Al as Bulbasaur crashed into it, taking them both to the ground. The grass pokemon jumped back and landed next to my grass pokemon.

Vanessa was prepared. "Wing attack!"

"I got this," I said to Dylan. "Bullet seed!"

"Double team!"

Tailow vanished from the spot Treecko was aiming at. Now there appeared to be twenty Tailows in the sky. One of them was real but we had no idea which one. I licked my lips in indecision. That cost me.

"Wing attack!" Whether they had planned it or not, Vanessa had completely distracted us from David and Al. The zubat had gotten off the ground without us noticing. It swooped in from behind and leveled both our pokemon.

Things were quickly going from bad to worse.

"We've got to isolate one of them," Dylan growled. "But we've got to do something about all those illusions first."

An idea popped into my head. "I'm on it. Treecko! Don't get up! Spin on your back and use bullet seed!"

"Tree-cko!" With shoves from it's tail, Treecko began spinning and firing. The seeds laced through the air at random but that was good enough. Even a nick was enough to dispel one of the Tailow illusions. It took four complete spins before they were all eliminated and the real Tailow took a hit.

"Our turn! Bulbasaur, grab Tailow with vine whip and bring it down!"

"Saur!"

The two vines lanced out of the base of the bulb on Bulbasaur's back. Instead of hitting Tailow like it had done earlier with Al, the vines looped around Tailow's feet. With a surprising amount of strength, Bulbasaur ripped Tailow from the air. The bird pokemon smashed into the ground, clearly stunned for a moment.

"Now!" Dylan yelled at me.

"Treecko, quick attack!"

My pokemon flashed across the field, running straight through Tailow as it rebounded from it's hit against the ground. Treecko screeched to a halt as it twisted around.

"Once more! We've got it now!" Treecko came racing in again.

Vanessa threw down her fists in anger. "No way! Tailow, use wing attack and then into the sky with quick attack!"

At the sound of Vanessa's voice, Tailow snapped back to it's senses. It twisted around to face the attacking treecko. A wing started to glow white and it flung it upwards. Treecko took the attack like an uppercut punch. The speed of it's own attack worked against it, increasing the damage my pokemon took. Then Tailow launched into the sky.

"Hold tough Bulbasaur!" Dylan roared. "This one is in our grasp!"

Bulbasaur dug it's feet into the ground as it's vines went taut. At first it was only dragged forward a few inches. Then it lost out to the tailow's sheer speed. The grass pokemon was torn off the ground and into the air.

"Here's our shot!" David was right on top of things. "Al, use wing attack on Bulbasaur!"

The grass pokemon heard the attack coming and tried to let go of Tailow. It didn't matter. Al flew up into the bulbasaur with a glowing wing and then drove it down into the ground. The grass pokemon had put up a good fight but now it was left to me and Treecko to finish.

The flying pokemon swirled around Treecko, criss-crossing in front of it. My pokemon was clearly running out of gas. Despite all the odds against it, Treecko still seemed calm, cool and collected. I was determined to at least get one of the opposing pokemon before we went down. Tailow had taken the most damage so it became my target. It then made the mistake of swooping too low.

"Quick attack!" I ordered, pointed at Tailow. "Then turn it into pound!"

With a burst of speed, Treecko speared Tailow out of the air. As they tumbled to the earth, Treecko reoriented itself and jumped off. It rolled in the air so it was heading down at Tailow headfirst. Tailow slammed into the ground. Treecko spun at the last second, putting all of it's falling momentum behind it's attack. The bird pokemon gave a mighty cry but went still.

I heard Dylan chuckle. "Nicely done. Way to save us some face."

Treecko turned and waved a finger at him. I had to agree. "Oh yes, we're not done yet."

"Oh yes you are!" David countered. "Bite!"

Al lunged down out of the sky at Treecko. Even though Al was missing a fang, the attack still had a lot of potential. I had to play this just right.

"Stand your ground!" I bellowed. "Bullet seed!"

Seeds pelted Al but the zubat kept right on coming. Al and David were determined to get this attack in and I was determined to make them pay for it. Despite Al having an natural defense against them, the bullet seeds were still causing damage.

"Use quick attack to dodge!"

Treecko raced away from Al, leaving a small cloud of dust in it's wake. Al pulled up and swooped after Treecko. My pokemon was certainly faster but David had the advantage of the high ground. An advantage he planned to use.

"Use supersonic! Cover the whole field!"

Al pulled up and hovered right where it was, about fifteen feet above the ground. It began emitting a high pitched noise as it shook ever so slightly. I could see the tremors in the air fall down around the battlefield. Treecko found itself running through one of the tremors. It immediately slowed down and wobbled as it stepped.

My pokemon was trying to fight off being confused. It was barely moving at all but I was pretty sure Treecko still had it's wits about it. Not that that mattered for more than three more seconds.

"Wing attack!" Al came rocketing down from the sky, wings aglow. With the supersonic attack gone, Treecko began to recover but it didn't matter. Al was upon it before it could move at regular speeds. The zubat slammed into Treecko with it's left wing. Dislodging the wing from my pokemon's belly, Al swung it's right wing down across Treecko's back. With a gasp, my pokemon tumbled.

"The battle is over!" Dylan declared reluctantly. "Victory to Vanessa and David!"

I gave a small whistle as I rocked back on my heels. Although not exceptionally lengthy, that had been a heck of a battle. I wiped at my forehead to discover it covered in sweat. Extending Treecko's poke ball, I drew it back in.

"Good work my friend," I said to it through the ball. "You've earned a good rest. We'll get them next time."

Dylan came up behind me and clapped me on the shoulder. "I'll second that. We put up quite the battle for all the stuff going against us. Especially now that I'm getting a better feel for Bulbasaur."

I laughed and gave him a curt nod. "I guess I owe you an apology. Bulbasaur more than carried it's share of the load. I really thought we had Tailow when you grabbed it with vine whip."

"You wish!" I looked up to see Vanessa and David had closed the distance between us. David looked pleased with the outcome, despite the zubat that was sitting on his head. Vanessa looked even more pleased.

"Treecko got Tailow in the end anyway," I countered. "The trick worked, just not immediately."

Vanessa gave me a tight smile.

"Al's strength and stuff was a bit surprising," Dylan broke into our little tiff before it got out of hand. "Usually you see zubats in more of a supporting role, not primary attackers."

Al gave a small screech, clearly appreciative of Dylan's praise.

David laughed. "Well, like I told you before: Al's special. We do things our way. Just like with Vlad. I try to get outside the norms and do things in a way that people wouldn't think of but is still effective."

I raised my hand slightly. "I have a question. No, not about Al. Did you plan to both use flying pokemon or was that just an unfortunate coincidence?"

Vanessa gave me that tight smile again. "Nope. That was my idea. I had a hunch what pokemon you'd be using so I told David it's what we should do."

"Care to elaborate?"

"Sure! Dylan had mentioned about developing pokemon he'd probably use in the future and I guessed he meant his bulbasaur. You didn't hear him say it. Since you didn't, I guessed you'd figure he was using one of his powerhouses especially since you guys never actually talked about it. Treecko complements his totodile and cyndaquil the best. You could say I beat you at your own game."

I was blown away. Dylan started laughing. "I don't know if you beat Tim at his own game but you certainly beat us. That was quite the theory you pieced together."

I raised an eyebrow. "Do I still get inspirational credit?"

"Sure, for all the good that does."

David looped his arm around Vanessa's shoulders and we found our path again. I felt like I should've been stewing over the loss, but I didn't. In fact, I was fairly pleased with how we had overcome the odds as much as we had. I continued to play over the battle in my head as we approached the city to find keys for improvement.

No one had thought to ask where we actually were and Dylan didn't tell us the name of the city. It really wasn't that important by the time we got there as we were pretty tired. There was still a fair amount of bustle for it being a Thursday night. Along the way to the pokemon center, I saw a pokemart and convinced the group to stop.

While the others checked their trainer supplies to see if they need anything, I drifted off to the side. They were all most likely assuming I was looking for poke balls but they were wrong. I was after TM's.

The big weak spot I noticed while playing back the battle in my head was the limited offensive abilities of my pokemon. I knew a lot of that had to do with that it hadn't evolved yet but I still wanted to look around to see if I could find anything good. Just in case. There was a large bin of the small disks attached to the wall. I pawed through them, finding very common ones I didn't care for.

"Well hello."

I had been looking for attacks for Treecko but had found something else. I picked up the small disk and held it up at eye level. Etched into the disk was 'Ice Beam'. I knew I'd eventually have to face off against a dragon-type and grass types were weak against ice too. I didn't plan on using it right away, but it was too good of an offer to pass us.

Dylan came over and saw what I was looking at. I laid out my thought process for him. A water pokemon with ice beam could instantly hold it's own with a grass pokemon. His eyes got big as he saw my wisdom. He started digging through the bin as I went to the front to pay. It wasn't a cheap purchase but I thought it was a worthwhile one.

Dylan reappeared, his face drooping. "That was the only one. Nothing else really worth it."

The pokemon center was only a short walk from the shopping center. We flopped down in some cushy chairs after dropping off our pokemon to be healed. I got the feeling that this wasn't a frequently visited center as the nurse kept trying to make small talk. The feeling was reinforced when I kept noticing the nurse standing behind us, watching the TV like us.

The Pokemon Tournament was obviously on. Like Vanessa had predicted earlier in the day, they were still doing preliminary battles. To pass through preliminaries, a trainer had to win a three-on-three battle on a four different fields. There seemed to be a large group of entrants this year so the preliminaries were taking longer than usual. The announcer informed us that even after all trainers had completed the four field battles, some would be selected at random to battle on a neutral field to reduce the number of contestants further.

"Have you been watching much of the tournament?"

I flinched slightly as I didn't recognize the voice. Looking to my left, the nurse had taken a seat next to us. I hadn't noticed it before but she wasn't much older than us. She had golden red hair spilling down onto the shoulders of her white nurses' dress. Her green eyes were firmly fixed on the television.

"Um, not really," I said as Dylan slowly leaned forward and over towards me. He wasn't about to miss out on a conversation with a pretty girl.

"We've been on the road the last couple days," my friend added. "Have you been keeping up with it?"

The nurse gave an annoyed sniff. "A little more so than I would like. In case you haven't noticed, this isn't exactly a busy pokemon center. I don't even have any pokemon in the back right now. The people and pokemon in this room are literally the only ones in this building."

Vanessa turned around in her seat to look at us. "Hi. I thought pokemon centers were assigned a chansey to assist?"

"Unfortunately this center is seen as a training one. The higher-ups decided it didn't need a chansey until it got busier. Meanwhile… I'm stuck here not really learning anything."

"Well at least you aren't giving up." Vanessa tried to give her a supportive smile. "I would've quit already if I were you."

The nurse gave her a soft smile. "Thanks. I'm Joy."

We introduced ourselves.

"So you've been watching a lot of the tournament." I jerked my head towards the television. "We pretty much know nothing. What're the headlines?"

Joy giggled. "Well it's hard to say since the preliminaries aren't even done yet. They've got a few trainers pegged down as favorites to go far. No one trainer has really stood out to make everything. Although someone did show up with a tyranitar. _That _made quite the first impression."

David whirled around so fast in his seat he almost fell out. "A tyranitar?"

"Yeah, a big one too," Joy confirmed with a nod.

"Wow. That's nuts. I didn't realize people were showing up with those types of pokemon."

Joy gave him a strange look. "Well people aren't all just showing up with high level pidgeys. If there's a pokemon out there like that that can be tamed, someone's going to catch it and use it."

"This… changes things."

"David doesn't catch pokemon unless he really thinks he's going to use them at some point." Joy had looked really confused so I decided to explain. "I think he just realized that he's going to have to catch more than he originally planned."

"Well if you can figure out the popular type, you can always ride that," Joy offered up. "Every year there's one type that everyone shows up with strong pokemon of, sometimes several of. There's really no way to know until the tournament gets under way though, really."

We chatted with Joy for another hour or two. She seemed really glad to have the company. Dylan seemed slightly smitten with her to the point I thought he might ask her to come with us. Thankfully that didn't happen. Eventually we decided to go to bed after Joy had left on a shift change. She wished us luck and probably more serious than joking, told us to come visit her again.

Taking advantage of the empty lodging area, we had spread ourselves out. I rolled out of bed the next morning and reached for my bag that I had left on another bed. Only David was up already so I decided to use the available showers to pass the time. When I was done, Vanessa and Dylan were awake as well.

We packed up our things and double-checked to make sure we had everything. The morning nurse was far less social than Joy was so we didn't even bother with formalities. Eating a breakfast of some of the food from our packs, we were under way. The sun was shining and the rainstorms that had hampered us the day before didn't appear to be making a repeat performance.

David was unusually somber.

"What's going on?" I asked, assuming it had something to do with what Joy had said last night.

"Things… are different now."

I cocked an eyebrow. "Well that's vague. Everything's been different since we left home. That didn't tell me crap."

He just looked at me, a piercing look in his blue eyes.

"Let me guess. The tyranitar?"

He nodded slowly. "We're going to have to trainer harder than ever now. I didn't realize we'd have to take on pokemon of that magnitude. Vlad or Duke couldn't stop that."

"Or… you could just catch more pokemon."

"How dumb do you think I am?"

I stopped walking and looked at him. "Wait, what?"

David gave me a wry grin. "You make it sound like I planned to storm the Tournament using only six pokemon. I'm well aware that I'm going to need to have more than six pokemon. The only thing the tyranitar changed is maybe I'll need a few more than I planned and possibly more types."

"How many were you planning on using?" Dylan interrupted. I noticed that he and Vanessa had stopped walking as well.

"Maybe twelve," he said with a shrug. "Maybe more. Depends on how many I find that I think I can use. Probably the same number that you were planning on using."

I got quiet. I wasn't sure if I was even going to use that many. It suddenly dawned on me that the difference between David and at least me was just how many we were planning on catching, not how many we were planning on using.

"I guess I owe you an apology. I was wrong." I extended my hand to David.

He shook it. "You weren't necessarily wrong. Just uninformed."

With the record set straight, we were on the move again. We made good time as we appeared to be following a surprisingly well worn path. Apparently a number of trainers had passed through the town we just left, just didn't spend any time there.

We walked probably for four hours until we decided to call a halt for lunch. Digging snacks out of our backpacks, we enjoyed the sunshine. Off to the side of the path was a pond. Munching on some jerky, David wandered off to investigate.

Dylan swallowed a mouthful of energy bar. "What's he going to look at? It's just a pond."

Vanessa gave him a shrug. "He's always been an outdoors type. He probably just wants to admire it or something."

Much to our surprise, David returned a few minutes later and not alone. I immediately started laughing. Under his arm he carried a magikarp. It didn't seem to be squirming at all, just content to be carried.

"I see you've made a new friend," I laughed. "Care to introduce us?"

"You laugh now but wait until Slappy evolves. Then we'll see who's laughing." David gave me a confident smile. I laughed even harder.

Vanessa looked at me and then at Dylan who was laughing too. "Did I miss something here?"

David looked confused too. "Apparently I did too. Or they don't realize what a magikarp evolves into. Surprisingly, not a lot of people do for some reason."

"Oh believe me, we are _quite _familiar with magikarp and their evolutions," Dylan sighed as his laughter faded.

Vanessa's eyes narrowed to slits. She looked from Dylan to me and then back again. "That's what your ace in the hole is! It's whatever a magikarp evolves into!"

"Gyarados," Dylan supplied. "No sense in hiding it now. You clearly figured it out anyway."

David looked intrigued. "So you actually have a gyarados?"

"That I do. I'd had Magikarp for like six years before it evolved. Actually that was mine and Tim's first pokemon 'adventure'. We got attacked by… something and somehow Magikarp got released. I think Tim fell and knocked it loose. It saw we were in trouble and evolved to save us. The rest, as they say, is history."

"I can see why you'd be holding that back," David said with a nod. "That would make quite the impression if you didn't know it was coming."

Dylan smiled. "Although I'm starting to realize that hiding it so much isn't doing Gyarados or me any good. Other than you guys, the odds I'm ever going to see any of these trainers again are slim to none. If I keep it hidden, we'll never get a chance to train together and Gyarados won't ever get any stronger."

With a new friend and a mystery solved, we packed up our stuff. Only stopping briefly for dinner, we walked until dark. Setting up camp once again we slept under the stars. The following day was just as uneventful as the day it followed. We encountered no trainers and no pokemon. It was starting to get old.


	18. Chapter 18

**Around midday the next day, we finally ran into some trainers. We were making our way down a well worn path when they appeared coming from the opposite direction. They too traveled in a group of four, backpacks denoting they were walkers as well.**

"**Hey there," the first one greeted us as we got closer. "How're you guys?"**

**I looked them over as we exchanged pleasantries. As far as I could guess, they were at least five years older than us. All of them appeared to be in fairly good shape too. If not for their different colored shirts, I probably wouldn't have known one from the other. They just had the kind of faces that don't stick in your mind. I took to referring to them by their shirt colors.**

"**You guys up for a battle?" Red asked, making me think he was their leader.**

**We all looked around at each other and the terrain. Dylan spoke first. "There's not a lot of room here. A bunch of one-on-one battles are going to take a while but ok."**

**Blue waved him off. "Nah. We can do a four-on-four."**

**I raised an eyebrow. "Four-on-four? That's really going to take some time."**

**The newcomers looked at me for a moment, confused. Then the guy in the green shirt seemed to put it together. "Not a series of battles where we all use four pokemon. What we're talking about is we all battle as a single trainer and use four pokemon so everyone gets to control one."**

**David coughed lightly into his hand. "I've never heard of battling like that."**

**Green laughed. "I'm not surprised. It's popular more down south of here. I'd imagine it'll make it's way up here in the next year or so with all the trainers heading for the Detroit gym."**

**We looked at each other and then at them. "Give us a minute."**

**Taking a few steps back, we huddled up. I glanced over my shoulder at them to make sure they hadn't closed in on us.**

"**There's something weird about them." Vanessa was eyeing them between Dylan and my shoulders.**

**Dylan shrugged. "We just met them. Why do you say that?"**

**Vanessa fidgeted for a moment. "I don't know. There's something about them that makes me uneasy."**

"**I can second that." David nodded his head in agreement. "I mean, who asks to do a four-on-four battle like this?"**

"**Especially in an area that it's uncommon," I added. "I guess that begs the question of do we feel so uneasy we don't battle them?"**

"**They might stiff us on the payment, but I don't see what we have to lose," Dylan pointed out. "Even if they run off, we still got battle experience."**

**We all exchanged looks. No one could dispute that fact.**

"**What pokemon are you guys going to use?" David asked. "I'm thinking I'm going to use Vlad."**

**I thought for a moment. "Well someone should bring a heavy hitter. I'll use Heracross then."**

**Dylan looked at Vanessa. "Ladies first."**

"**Someone needs to bring the heat," she said. "I'll use Charmander."**

"**Well I was going to use Cyndaquil but I guess I can round out the group with Bulbasaur," Dylan decided. "That's a fairly versatile team."**

**We turned back to the newcomers. They apparently had assumed we'd come to the conclusion we did as they all had a poke ball in hand. I ground my teeth lightly for a moment. I was getting that same vibe Vanessa had gotten from them earlier now too.**

**Both groups stepped back a bit to give us enough room for a decent sized battlefield. The colored shirts didn't even bother discussing who would use what pokemon. They just looked way too ready for the match.**

**The one in the yellow shirt stepped forward. "This match will be a four-on-four battle! Each trainer will command his or her own pokemon and none other! The battle will end when one team loses all their pokemon! Since we made the challenge, we will send out the first pokemon."**

**Yellow stayed in his forward position. With a fling, he sent his pokemon out onto the field. I had expected it to be something rare or uncommon at the least. Instead, it was a geodude. David stepped forward to face it.**

**He held his poke ball up to his face. "Guess we'll get this one going. Vlad! Let's do this!"**

**I expected a substitution right off the back but none came. Yellow just stood there, looking confident. "Geodude, tackle!"**

**The rock pokemon launched itself at Vlad. The water pokemon spun to the side to avoid contact. The geodude rebounded quickly and came at Vlad again. Ducking low, the geodude sailed over David's pokemon.**

**Now it was David's turn. "Water gun!"**

**Rising up to it's feet, Vlad blasted the enemy geodude. The rock pokemon braced itself per it's trainers request by curling into a ball with defense curl. The water gun just sprayed off the geodude. It came out of it's curl when the attack was over, seemingly no worse for wear.**

"**That was interesting," Dylan mumbled as he scratched at his chin. "It doesn't seem to have taken any damage at all. Even with defense curl it should've taken some."**

**I looked at him. "What does that mean?"**

"**Ask me again in another minute."**

"**Geodude!" Yellow yelled. "Magnitude!"**

"**Dude!" Geodude responded and jumped into the air. It crashed down onto the ground, sending out seismic waves. They weren't overly powerful waves but it was still enough to knock Vlad off balance. Which was all Yellow appeared to want.**

"**Rollout!"**

**Curling back into a small ball, Geodude came rolling at Vlad at high speeds. A small bounce lifted Geodude off the ground. Vlad took the rolling rock pokemon right in the center of the shell and was knocked back. Geodude was tossed back as well but was still spinning when it landed.**

"**Use rollout again!"**

**Geodude came in again, faster this time. Vlad was run over and looked like it had taken a bit more damage this time.**

**David had had enough. "Water gun! Stop that geodude in it's tracks!"**

**Still down on the ground, Vlad flipped over to all fours. It arched it's back for a moment and then fired it's water gun. The blast of water struck the geodude. The spinning rock pokemon continued it's advance up the pillar of water.**

"**More power Vlad!"**

**There was a gurgling noise and the size of Vlad's water gun grew. The added power finally overtook Geodude, stopping it's roll and slamming it back. Despite having taking it's second water attack, a type it should be weak against, Geodude still wasn't looking worn down.**

**Suddenly it clicked in my mind. "This is a high-level geodude. That's how it can withstand those water attacks head on."**

**Dylan nodded. "That's what I'm thinking. We might have been suckered in here. I bet all their pokemon are high levels and they just pass themselves off as younger trainers. We'd better be careful."**

**David wasn't able to hear us. He was lost in the battle. "Vlad, use bubble! Coat the field in bubbles!"**

**Bubbles began spraying out of the squirtle's mouth. Geodude squirmed out of the way so it didn't take damage. I had a feeling that wasn't David's goal with this particular move.**

"**Geodude can't move."**

**I looked back at Vanessa. "Huh?"**

**She pointed at the field. "David just covered the entire field in bubbles. If it wants to get up close to attack, it'll have to go through all those bubbles. They won't cause a lot of damage but it'll add up."**

**I looked at the field again. She was right. Geodude was on an isolated patch of ground, bubbles everywhere around it. The rock pokemon seemed to realize it too as it's eyes darted around the field. Vlad, on the other hand, moved seamlessly through the bubbles.**

"**Water gun!" David roared.**

**Hidden in the bubbles, Vlad speared Geodude with a water gun. David's plan showed even more genius now. The force of the water gun threw Geodude into the bubble field. Vlad circled around and repeated the attack again. Finally Geodue was showing signs of wearing down.**

**Yellow wasn't having it though. "Geodude, use magnitude!"**

**Geodude bounded into the air. This time the magnitude seemed much more powerful. So powerful that it instantly popped all the bubbles. Vlad was left unprotected, trying to brace itself on the ground.**

"**Tackle!" Yellow ordered.**

**Now unencumbered, Geodude launched towards Vlad. The water pokemon was just steadying itself and was completely unprepared for the attack. It was thrown backwards, tumbling head over tail. Neither pokemon appeared to be in good shape now.**

"**Finish this now!" Yellow waved a hand through the air. "Rollout!"**

**As the geodude began, David was patient. "Wait for it…"**

**The rock pokemon began barreling in at Vlad. "Wait for it…"**

**Geodude was almost there. "Now! Jump and water gun!"**

**Vlad leapt surprisingly high into the air and fired. Twisting in midair, it was able to track Geodude and keep the water gun on it the whole time. Eventually the water gun overwhelmed it and the rock pokemon spun out of control, crashing. It didn't move after that.**

**There was no official announcement. Yellow simply returned his pokemon to it's poke ball and stepped back. Green stepped forward to fill his position. "You're up Machoke!"**

**I had seen a machop, the pre-evolution of a machoke but that didn't prepare me for this pokemon. It stood almost twice as tall as a machop but was covered in rippling muscles. It had the same crest on it's head as a machop but now had on almost like swim trunks and a large belt encircled it's waist.**

"**Oh that is not good.." Dylan moaned.**

**David took a deep breath and blew it out. "Ok Vlad, let's do this! Water gun!"**

**The tired squirtle blasted away. Green wasn't having any of it though.**

"**Rock tomb!" The machoke responded by dropping to one knee and punching the ground. An outcropping of rocks suddenly shot up from the ground. The rocks intercepted the water gun as Machoke took it's time getting back to it's feet.**

**Green smirked. "Thunderpunch Machoke!"**

**Lightning began to crackle around a purple skinned fist. Leaping over the rock tomb, Machoke ran in at Vlad. Vlad had no chance to react. Machoke drove it's fist into Vlad's stomach. The force of the punch combine with the electric element of it sent Vlad sailing back. The turtle pokemon gasped for breath as it struggle back to it's feet.**

**I grabbed David by the arm. "Call it back!"**

**He shook his head. "No. We can beat it!"**

"**Maybe, but you don't have to!"**

**We looked back to see Vanessa standing there, arms crossed. A determined look filled her eyes. "Maybe you and Vlad can beat that machoke but you don't have to! This is what they want! They want to wear us out one by one! What if we need Vlad later? You have to call it back!"**

**David paused for a moment and we both realized the wisdom of her words. Lifting an arm, he recalled Vlad to it's poke ball. He gave Vanessa a smile. "Smart thinking but who battles now?"**

**I held up Heracross. "You can leave that to us. I think we probably stand the best chance now."**

**Heracross burst onto the field and was instantly ready for battle. Green looked surprised at my choice of pokemon. I hoped that favored me.**

"**Machoke, squash that bug!" Green roared. "Karate chop!"**

**I shook my head. "Block it with horn attack!"**

**Heracross' wings snapped out of it's shell and propelled it forward. Swooping down, Heracross came up to intercept the falling karate chop. The two attacks met, neither gaining an advantage. The two fighting pokemon struggle for a moment and then with pushes backwards, disengaged.**

**I decided to go on the offensive. "Get back in there Heracross! Fury attack!"**

"**Heracross!" The bug pokemon darted in and began swinging it's horn and arms wildly. Machoke held up it's arms to block the cloud of heracross fury but my pokemon worked up under it's defense.**

"**Smack it away with karate chop!"**

**Faster than I would've thought possible, Machoke flattened a fist out and slammed it down on Heracross. My pokemon was driven down into the dirt. Laying on it's stomach, it was not in a good place to be.**

**Green knew it too. "Low kick!"**

"**Send it flying with horn attack!"**

**Getting it's legs up under it, Heracross flung it's head back. It's huge horn scooped up the machoke right between the legs and tossed it over my pokemon's shoulder. The fighting pokemon rolled through it, escaping essentially unharmed.**

"**Thunderpunch!"**

**My mind raced furiously. "Block it with night slash!"**

**Heracross' right claws began glowing a dark purple as they filled with dark-type energy. Swinging them forward in a punch, it met Machoke's thunderpunch. There was a brief pause, then an explosion. The energy of the two attacks sent the pokemon flying backwards. Both of them landed on their feet, skidding backwards.**

"**Low kick!"**

**Machoke lunged back in at Heracross. Dropping into a low crouch, it lashed out a leg.**

"**Dodge it! Fly up!"**

**Heracross launched up into the air, narrowly avoiding the kick.**

**Low kick had only been a diversion. "Seismic toss!"**

**Flexing a powerful leg, Machoke jumped high. It raced into the sky behind my pokemon. Clamping it's arms around Heracross, it snapped it's wings back into it's shell. Turning it's body, Machoke turned them both into a falling missile. At the last second, it shoved off of my pokemon. The shove let Machoke avoid crashing into the ground and accelerated Heracross' descent. With a mighty crash, Heracross came to earth.**

**I gasped. There had been a lot of force behind that attack. Heracross stirred, but just barely.**

**I balled my hands into fists. "Get up Heracross! Get up! We're not done yet!"**

**Yellow eyes snapped open at the sound of my voice. Heracross muttered something and slowly got back to it's feet. There was a lot of fight in it's eyes, but I wasn't sure how much was left in it's body.**

**Green might've been impressed but he didn't show it. "Thunderpunch!"**

"**Block it with night slash!"**

**My fears were put to rest as Heracross responded almost instantaneously to my command. Intercepting the electric punch with the dark attack resulted in the same explosion as before. I still had a trick up my sleeve with aerial ace and I needed to use it soon.**

**Then Heracross looked at me. The top of it's horn glowed with a red energy, almost the color of brick. I dug my pokedex out and point it at my pokemon. The electronic encyclopedia identified it as brick break, a fighting move. I now had another trick to work with.**

**I smiled and nodded. "Alright, you got it. Brick break!"**

**Machoke tried to block it with karate chop. With a feral scream, Heracross overpowered the big fighting pokemon. With karate chop deflected, Heracross drove brick break right into the machoke's face. The big fighting pokemon staggered back and fell.**

**I saw my opening. "Now Heracross! Into the air!"**

**Green shook his head. "You can't hide up there forever."**

"**Who said anything about hiding? Aerial ace!"**

**Performing a tight loop, Heracross came screaming back down at Machoke. White energy began flowing out of it's horn. At such high speeds, Machoke never had a chance to dodge. The fighting pokemon took the flying attack right in the chest. It flew across the field, smashing through it's own rock tomb.**

"**Finish it! Horn attack!" Leaving a trail of dust behind it, Heracross spun as it came rocketing in to make it harder to block. Machoke was halfway up off the ground and that was as far as it got. Heracross plowed straight on through, never slowing.**

"**Machoke!" Green shouted. "Machoke, no!"**

**Heracross swooped back over and landed in front of me. It breathed heavily. I prayed that the stirring machoke didn't get back to it's feet. Somehow the big fighting pokemon got to a crouch. Then it fell. It's body gave out and it fell backwards to the ground. It'd didn't move again.**

**I let out a huge sigh of relief. "Good work Heracross."**

**For a brief moment, I thought Green was going to charge across the field at me. Red pulled him back and replaced him on the field. I wiped the sweat from my brow. I probably wouldn't face whatever pokemon Red sent out for long, if at all, but it was my duty to at least find out what it was.**

**It was a pokemon I had never seen before. It stood on two legs and was covered in white fur. It had a several splashes of red on it's fur, one on each arm, a zigzag of it on it's chest and a patch that ran down one of it's long ears and over it's eye. It had a hateful look in it's eyes but what I really noticed was the huge black claws on each hand. My pokedex identified it as a zangoose. **

**I turned back to my friends. "Well? Should I give it a shot?"**

**Dylan also had his pokedex out and was studying it. "Might as well. Feel it out for a bit then we can switch if we need to."**

**I gave a confident nod. "Got it. Heracross, horn attack!"**

**Wings popped out and Heracross shot across the field.**

**Red was ready for us. "Zangoose, crush claw!"**

**Those horrible black claws began glowing and crackling with a white energy. A look came across Zangoose's face. I couldn't place the exact emotion but it seemed to be somewhere between bloodthirsty and a happy serial killer. With one hand it locked up Heracross' horn. With the other it took a swipe at my pokemon.**

**Heracross' momentum drove it's body higher up in the air when it locked up with Zangoose, letting the other pokemon's attack go beneath my pokemon. Closing it's wings, the bug pokemon's weight was now being pulled back down to the ground. With a wrench of it's head, Heracross freed it's horn from Zangoose's grip.**

"**Brick break!"**

**The red glow returned to Heracross' horn. It lunged forward, slamming home in Zangoose's chest. The normal type pokemon was tossed backwards a few feet. I spared a moment to examine Heracross. It was breathing heavily, arms hanging at it's sides. I needed to get it out of there.**

"**Heracross, return!" It gave me a thankful look right before the laser touched it.**

**Dylan stepped forward. "Good work buddy. We'll take it from here. Bulbasaur, let's do it!"**

**Zangoose was back on it's feet now. It's look was leaning more towards serial killer now. I couldn't say I envied Dylan and his pokemon. All I could do was hope that they were up to the task.**

**Red looked annoyed at losing a chance to take out one of our pokemon. "Zangoose, swords dance!"**

**A light purple aura covered the pokemon's arms. It moved to and fro, much like a dancer. The faint image of two light blue swords appeared in the air around Zangoose. They hovered there for a moment and then absorbed themselves into the pokemon. The purple aura disappeared as well.**

"**I've heard of this," David said from beside me. "Swords dance really raises a pokemon's attack power. Dylan had better be careful."**

"**Razor leaf!"**

**From the base of his bulbasaur's bulb came a barrage of spinning leaves. From past experience I knew those leaves were razor sharp and could cause a lot of damage. Red unfortunately knew that as well and had Zangoose jump over the attack.**

**Dylan was prepared for that. "Vine whip!"**

**The leaves ceased and two dark green vines shot out of the bulb. They caught a surprised Zangoose right in the chest. Arcing over, they drove it some twelve feet down into the ground. There was now a zangoose sized hole in the ground, filled with a zangoose actually.**

**Red was furious. "Get up Zangoose! Destroy that bulbasaur with slash!"**

**Zangoose was back up in an instant. It came racing in and Dylan sent Bulbasaur bounding out to meet it. Bulbasaur leapt up with a tackle but Zangoose was faster. Raking it's claws across Bulbasaur sent it flying back to Dylan's feet. Although having taken serious damage, the little green pokemon got back to it's feet.**

"**Good work Bulbasaur," Dylan praised. "Now… razor leaf!"**

"**Bulba saur!" Bulbasaur roared as it exploded with leaves.**

**Red's pokemon tried to dodge again but was too slow. It avoided the main swarm but still took a decent number of hits. The impacts spun it around and to the ground. Bulbasaur pawed at the dirt, daring it to get back up. Unfortunately for the grass pokemon, it did just that.**

"**Zangoose, quick attack!"**

**With blazing speed, Zangoose closed the distance between the two pokemon. With an uppercut swing, it lifted Bulbasaur clear off the ground. The grass pokemon bounced all the way back to Dylan's feet. It slowly tried to get up but was still reeling from the attack.**

"**Call it back!" Vanessa cried, holding up a poke ball. "Let me in!"**

**Dylan didn't hesitate at all. Bulbasaur was back in a poke ball and Charmander was on the field in a handful of seconds. Although we had just revealed our final pokemon, I felt like things were still going our way. Three of our pokemon might have been pretty beat up, but we still had all four. Our opponents had a roughed up zangoose and one other pokemon we hadn't seen yet.**

"**Charmander, use metal claw!"**

"**Zangoose! Crush claw!"**

**The two pokemon rushed in at each other, claws aglow. They swung at the same time, deflecting each other's attack. Neither was deterred and kept striking. They began to look like two martial artists locked in battle, both defending a blow with another.**

"**Flamethrower!"**

**Zangoose was swept away in the river of flames, finally putting an end to their stalemate. Even the close up fire attack didn't seem to phase the zangoose much.**

"**We've got to do something," David muttered. "That zangoose is really tough. It's going to wear down our pokemon one by one and we might need Charmander later."**

**We thought for a moment and inspiration struck Dylan. "Here's what we do: Vanessa will recall Charmander. David, you'll send out Vlad and strike with either bubble or water gun. Then you call Vlad back. I'll jump in with Bulbasaur and hit it with razor leaf. After that, Vanessa attacks with flamethrower. Then repeat."**

**I raised an eyebrow. "What about Heracross?"**

**Dylan shook his head. "Heracross has taken way more damage than the rest. Also, our pokemon can attack from a distance. We're have way less risk of damage if we do this right. You just watch and make sure they don't look like they're about to pull anything funny."**

**Vanessa had been listening. "Charmander, return!"**

**Not expecting her to be so prompt, David was a few seconds late getting Vlad onto the field. The squirtle blasted Zangoose in the face with a water gun and was off the field before Zangoose even knew what hit it. When it wiped the water from it's eyes, it saw Bulbasaur and a cloud of razor leafs heading it's way.**

**I stepped back and crossed my arms. Dylan's plan was proceeding better than I could've imagined. It was a beautiful symphony of swapping and attacking. Red's pokemon couldn't defend or even keep up with all the swapping. Despite it's effectiveness here, I couldn't ever see this trick working with a single trainer.**

"**Zangoose, no!" After a barrage of razor leafs had pounded it in the chest, Zangoose dropped to it's knees. It wavered there for a moment. Slowly, it's eyes rolled back into it's head and it flopped forward onto it's face. Red quivered with rage as he recalled his pokemon.**

"**We need to be on guard," I whispered to Dylan. "They look super pissed off and not just losing trainer pissed off."**

**He nodded. He had noticed their intense anger too. More so, I hoped he had noticed that two of them had almost rushed us from across the field. Something told me they were bullies that weren't used to being manhandled like this.**

**Blue stepped up to the trainer's spot. Without a word, he released his pokemon. Again, it was a pokemon I'd never seen before. It was essentially a large mountain of brown fur. Near the bottom of the mountain was a sizeable round nose and two sharp looking tusks. Digging my pokedex back out, I identified it as a piloswine. It was a ice and ground type which played nicely into our hands.**

**Dylan was still in the battler's position, pokedex in hand as well. He considered what he saw and decided to keep his bulbasaur on the field. "Bulbasaur, tackle!"**

**Bounding forward, I hoped Bulbasaur wasn't about to bite off more than it could chew.**

**Blue's eyes narrowed. "Fury attack!"**

**With a deep groan that slowly rose in pitch, Piloswine lurched forward. Bulbasaur suddenly found itself being pummeled by those sharp tusks. The ice pokemon actually lifted Bulbasaur off the ground and was juggling it with it's tusks almost.**

"**Get some space between you!" Dylan yelled, clenching a fist. "Vine whip!"**

**The two dark vines shot out and hit Piloswine near the top of it's body. Instead of pushing the piloswine back though, Bulbasaur used them to push itself away from it's opponent. Bulbasaur dropped to the ground some ten feet away, battered, but still able to fight.**

**Ranged attacks were clearly the way to go. "Razor leaf!"**

"**Saur!" The barrage of spinning leaves shot out of the bulb at Piloswine.**

**Blue was ready. "Icy wind!"**

**A red mouth appeared at the base of the fur mountain between the tusks. From it came a gust of blue sparkles which I realized were ice crystals. They intercepted the razor leaves, blowing them off course and leaving Piloswine unharmed.**

"**Uh oh," Dylan muttered.**

"**Ice fang!" Blue shouted.**

**Two jagged blasts of blue shot out from Piloswine's tusks. They struck Bulbasaur in the head, dropping it to the ground. A light blue casing formed around Bulbasaur as the grass pokemon's face looked horrified. It no longer moved but technically wasn't defeated. It was frozen.**

"**Bulbasaur! No!" Dylan was furious but there was nothing he could do besides recall his pokemon.**

**Vanessa was right there to take over. She immediately began torching the piloswine with a flamethrower. The ice pokemon bellowed in pain.**

"**Take down!" Blue wasn't about to just stand there and let his pokemon get roasted. The pile of fur lurched forward and came barreling down on Charmander. Pushing straight through the flamethrower, Piloswine threw all it's body weight at the fire pokemon. Charmander was hurled across the field. Little pockets of fire now littered the field from when Piloswine had run through the flamethrower.**

"**Charmander, return!" I couldn't believe what I had heard Vanessa say. She didn't have Piloswine on the ropes at all, but her charmander seemed like our best option at this point. She nodded at Dylan. He gave her a confused look in response. Vanessa jerked her head at the field. Dylan looked out there.**

"**Ahhh, now I see," he said with a smile.**

**Dylan tossed Bulbasaur's poke ball onto the field with a careful underhanded lob. The ball bounced in front of a sizeable patch of burning grass and released it's contents. Bulbasaur was still frozen, unmoving. Piloswine was turning around, prepared to use take down again. The grass pokemon remained literally frozen in it's spot.**

**Piloswine charged.**

"**Bulbasaur!" Dylan roared. "Razor leaf!"**

**A second ticked by and the grass pokemon didn't move. Then the ice around it shattered. Being close to the fire had unfrozen Dylan's bulbasaur. It now pounded the piloswine it had caught flat-footed with razor leaf.**

"**I'll be honest," David chuckled. "I didn't know you could even do that."**

**I had to laugh. "That makes two of us. I thought being frozen was a condition that you had to have cured at the pokemon center."**

**Piloswine battled through the swarm of leaves, using fury attack to destroy many of them. With Piloswine practically on top of it, Bulbasaur dove out of the way. Landing on a shoulder, the grass pokemon used it's bulb to swerve around and end up facing Piloswine's back. Piloswine was clearly a higher level and had good defense but Bulbasaur was much faster. That speed was proving to be the difference right now.**

**Dylan slashed a hand through the air. "Finish it! Razor leaf once more!"**

**Bulbasaur locked onto Piloswine's unprotected flank and let loose. The ground/ice pokemon howled in pain. Taking a super effective attack in a completely unprotected area was too much for it. There was a mighty thump and I took that to be Piloswine's legs giving out from underneath it.**

"**Vine whip for good measure!"**

"**Saur!" The leaf barrage ceased and the two vines raced out. Sweeping to the side, they caught Piloswine in the right side. In a slightly less than dramatic fashion, Piloswine tipped over.**

**Dylan cleared his throat. "I believe that's game, set, and match."**

**I hadn't feared for my life since that time in the woods when Gyarados had saved Dylan and me but I feared for it now. We had clearly been pulled into some kind of trap but had gotten out of it. Our opponents were absolutely seething.**

"**How about one more?" Red asked, although there was nothing inviting about his tone. It sounded more like an order than a request. "Winner gets your pokemon."**

**I shook my head. "No dice. Give us our winnings and go."**

**Green gave us a sneer. "I think you should reconsider."**

**David, acting chivalrous, stepped in front of Vanessa. "No, I think you should."**

**Yellow yanked a poke ball off of his belt. He released it in front of his group. I took a step back but managed to avoid gasping. He had released the same pokemon that had attacked Dylan and me in the woods so long ago.**

"**Houndoom says yes." Yellow had a sick smile on his face.**

**I heard the sound of another poke ball popping open but I didn't see any pokemon materializing in front of their group. Then I felt the rush of air as a pokemon formed next to me, in front of Dylan.**

"**Gyarados says no."**

**The mighty water pokemon towered over our group. It leaned down in at the other group and their houndoom. Through slitted eyes it glared at them. Then Gyarados' eyes snapped open and it let out a bone-rattling roar. Suddenly our adversaries didn't look so confident. Dylan, on the other hand, did. "Like I said, Gyarados says no."**

**I considered releasing a pokemon as well but I didn't have any that had quite the presence that Gyarados did. I decided to be content with joining Dylan by adding a smug look to my face. Vanessa and David followed suit. David dug his phone out and dialed a number.**

"**This isn't over," Red growled but there was no more menace to his words. He and his group were slowly backing away. Yellow even recalled his houndoom.**

**Dylan cleared his throat and rubbed the finger tips of his left hand together. The colored shirt group reached into their belt money holders, threw some money to the ground and started running. Under the careful watch of Gyarados, Vanessa collected the money. I turned my attention to David to find out who he could possibly be calling.**

"**So you can track our location through my phone?" he asked. "I can get you exact coordinates if you want. We have a GPS…. Ok, should we wait? …right, we'll be here. Thank you sir."**

**He closed up his phone and looked at me. "What?"**

"**Who was that?"**

"**Who do you think? The police. They clearly were some kind of thieves. The whole match was some kind of con game and they planned to get either money or pokemon in the end."**

**I shrugged. The same thought had crossed my mind, I just hadn't thought to call the police. I figured they wouldn't come back after witnessing Gyarados, especially if their intimidation pokemon was at a type disadvantage to it.**

"**Think we should try to follow them?" I asked. "Send a flying pokemon to trail them or something?"**

**Dylan shook his head. "No way. They'd probably knock it out of the sky and then we'd never see it again. I don't know who they were, but they were clearly bad guys."**

**Vanessa came back over to join us. She was clutching a rather sizeable pile of money with a grin on her face. "They apparently dropped all the money they'd won from other trainers recently. There's almost five hundred dollars here."**

**I started to get excited but it was a fleeting feeling. "We're going to have to turn it over to the cops aren't we? That's dirty money."**

"**Yeah, probably," Dylan said with a sigh. "It's been a while since we won a paying battle too."**

"**We should be doing alright monetarily," David replied. "I found an ATM to check the balance on your trainer ID. Let's just say that beating a gym leader pays out very well."**

**Dylan recalled Gyarados as we waited for the police. Although it would make it easier for the police to find us, it would also make it easier for the thieves to find us again too if they had backup somewhere. I couldn't disagree with that although having the gargantuan water pokemon watching over us was a comforting feeling. Slowly the whine of an engine could be heard.**

**A trio of motorbikes appeared on the path, the way we were heading. Each bike was ridden by a man in a police uniform, slightly adjusted for the bike riders. We were apparently not as far away from the next city or town as I had thought because it only took them fifteen minutes to find us. We gave them our stories, along with any details that we thought might be helpful. Finally, we brought up the money they had left.**

**The lead policeman looked hesitant. He looked at his two compatriots before responding. "Although it technically is dirty money, you won it cleanly. There's no way for us to actually track down who it all belongs to. Especially without apprehending that actual culprits. As far as I'm concerned, you guys earned that. From the description of your battle, you deserve it."**

**Despite there only been three policemen on three bikes, they still offered us a ride to the next town. Exhaustion from our battle was finally starting to set in so we eagerly accepted. Since they were the smallest, David and Vanessa squeezed onto the bike with the smallest police officer. The next town was only about ten minutes away. They were kind enough to drop us off at the pokemon center. After wishing us well, they sped off.**

**We gave our pokemon over to the nurse and then settled down in the lounge. Fiddling around with the public computer I sat by, I noticed it had a slot about the size of my pokedex. Curious, I pulled mine out and fitted it into the computer. A screen appeared asking me if I wanted to upload. I clicked yes. It then asked if I wanted to upload to "home" or "other location". I assumed that "home" meant Professor Oak so I clicked it. A light next to my pokedex glowed red and then turned to green. The screen told me transfer was complete so I took back my pokedex.**

"**So it's really not that late at all," Dylan said. "Do we want to keep going today?"**

**David had been leaning his head back. It came up now. "Did we make good time before we were stopped?"**

**Dylan shook his head. "Not really. We were only traveling for three, maybe four, hours at the most. We'd need to walk for another at least three to shave any significant time off."**

"**Will that put us in another town?" Vanessa asked. "After today, I'm not sure if I want to sleep out in the woods around here."**

"**Can't argue with that," Dylan agreed as he fiddled with his GPS. "Doing our usual speed, I think we could make it to the next town in four or five hours."**

**I checked my watch. "I think that's plausible. I mean it won't start getting dark until then anyway. We could always hustle at the end if we need to."**

**There was little debate and we decided to go for it. After the nurse returned our pokemon to us, we were out the door. We were probably moving a little faster than usual to begin with. It dawned on us that the thieves had run off in the opposite direction we had gone so we slowed back to our normal pace. Eventually our conversations returned as we stopped looking over our shoulders.**

**I looked over at Vanessa as we walked. "So that was some quick thinking out there against those guys. How'd you figure out what they were up to?"**

**She gave me a one armed shrug. "I dunno. I was just something I thought of all of a sudden and it made a lot of sense. I've been doing a lot of that lately."**

"**What, thinking?"**

**Vanessa nodded. "Yeah. Our last battle really got me thinking about stuff. I was always stuck in the moment, focused only on that moment. You were focused on the moment too, but you were already thinking ahead to the next moment. Even before the battle had started, you were one step ahead of me because you could predict my team."**

"**Well you gave me a taste of my own medicine already," I said with a laugh. "You got me and Dylan pretty good in that double battle when you realized we hadn't actually discussed our pokemon."**

**Ahead of us, Dylan muttered something under his breath and David laughed.**

"**I know I'm never going to be a cerebral fighter," Vanessa admitted. "but I want to figure out this thinking ahead thing. You helped me once already but got any more tips?"**

**It was my turn to shrug. "I don't really have my battle strategies laid out. I go with the flow. I try to deduce what my opponent thinks I'm going to do and then stray away from that a little. I always want my opponent thinking about what I **_**might**_** do. That's why I try to incorporate unconventional tactics into what I do. I don't rely solely on them, but I like to have opponents unsure of what my pokemon might actually be capable of doing."**

**Vanessa was quiet for a moment as she took that in. I was impressed with how far she had come along as a trainer in just a few days. She had managed to get by with sheer power when we had first met. Now she was finding more of the psychological aspect to battling. Although I had no previous experience at judging trainer potential, I had a feeling Vanessa was going to end up being a very good trainer.**

**We made excellent time and made it to the next town in just under four hours. This still put us on pace to reach Chicago in the next three days. Navigating to the nearest pokemon center, we parked ourselves in front of the television to watch the League Tournament. **

**The preliminaries were winding down now. The last few battles on the typed fields were tonight. We took in a few a few of the three-on-three battles before fatigue crept up on us. The long day was taking it's toll on us. We set up camp in the sparsely occupied lodging area and were quickly asleep.**

**Music punctuated my dreams, confusing me immensely. Some of the fog cleared from my mind and I realized it was my phone ringing. Shielding my eyes from the sun, I took the phone and stepped out of the lodging area.**

**I snapped it open without looking at the ID. "Hello?"**

"**Good morning Tim! Sounds like I woke you up!"**

**The rest of the fog cleared from my mind. "Professor Oak? Um, yeah, you kinda did. What's going on?"**

**The old man chuckled. "You kids. It's already nine o'clock! Anyways, I was calling about your pokedex information that you had uploaded to me yesterday."**

"**Something go wrong?" I asked. "Do you need me to send it again?"**

"**Oh no, everything transmitted fine," he assured me. "I just had a few questions about it."**

**I shrugged and then remembered he couldn't see me. "Sure, what's that?"**

"**Well first off, where in blazes are you that you encountered a zangoose and a piloswine?"**

**I had to laugh. "Actually we're a few days walk from Chicago. Those pokemon belonged to some nasty trainers we ran into."**

**I recounted the story for him. He listened intently, not interrupting me even once.**

"**You should be wary," Oak advised. "There's been a bit of an upswing in pokemon crimes lately. You seem able to handle yourselves but still be cautious."**

"**Pokemon crime?" I repeated.**

"**Yes, like poaching from no-catching zones or flat out stealing another trainer's pokemon. This used to be very rare but strangely it's becoming progressively more common. The authorities I have spoken to think it all originates from one organized group. This had yet to be confirmed though."**

"**Oh, ok," I said slowly. "Anything else I can do for you?"**

**The professor thought for a moment. "Nothing really. I was just curious about the piloswine and zangoose. Oh! You said you're almost to Chicago! How did your first gym battle go?"**

**I smiled and told him of our success. He pressed me for details so I described my battle and how we had been separated from the others so we could each get our own first experience.**

"**Steven is a good man and an excellent trainer," Oak said, confidence in his voice. "I was actually on the panel that selected him to lead that gym."**

"**I definitely learned a few things from him," I admitted. "I might even go see him again when we head back home."**

"**I think he'd like that."**

**Professor Oak and I said our goodbyes and I went back to the beds. My friends were up now and slightly confused as to where I had been. I explained about the phone call. With things cleared up, we gathered up our things and were on our way. **

**Clouds blotted out the sun but the weather was still favorable. A little past noon a light rain began to fall. Our rain ponchos were more than up to the task of shielding us from it, unlike the previous rainstorm we had encountered. The path we were following turned to mud unfortunately, forcing us to walk in the wet grass instead.**

"**This might be bad," Dylan muttered.**

**I looked up into the sky. The cool rain ran down my face. "How do you figure? It's been raining all day!"**

**He shook his head, sending water droplets everywhere. "I mean for tonight. We were going to have to camp out tonight but…"**

**He didn't have to finish. We all understood that everything was soaked. Sleeping on the wet ground would be miserable, even if we were in the tents we had. Also if we weren't able to get fully dry, we might get sick.**

"**What about a slight detour?" Vanessa chipped in. "We can't be that far from civilization."**

**Dylan sniffed a laugh. "You'd be surprised. It'll be night in a few hours. The closest city or town is along our path. Unfortunately, it's probably six hours away at best. This rain really screwed us."**

"**So we walk," David said with a shrug. "It's just a few extra hours. As long as the rain doesn't really pick up, we should be fine."**

"**That's what I'm worried about."**

**Dylan pointed far off in the distance ahead of us. The gray clouds above us melted into deep black clouds. To make matters worse, they were headed our way. I couldn't be sure but it looked like it'd be upon us soon.**

"**Yeah, that's not good," I smirked. "Should we hustle and try to head it off and find cover? Or should we just keep going about our way?"**

"**Personally, I think we should keep our current pace," Dylan advised. "If it looks like we're going to get caught, then we pick it up. If we're going to have to be walking late tonight, we don't want to be completely exhausted."**

**We decided that Dylan's idea was the best and just kept our pace. Our luck was strong as the rain subsided as we got under the black clouds. Like all good things, that too came to an end. We ran. Our path took us under a highway overpass. It was loud and noisy but we were out of the rain for the time being. **

**The worst of the storm only lasted for thirty minutes or so. After that, we were free to hit the road again. It was slow going as everything was muddy and slick. No one fell and I was really glad I had shorts on. The cuffs of David's pants were soaked with mud.**

**As our luck was good for the rain, it turned sour for travel. Dylan's estimate of six hours turned out to be generous. I was skeptical we would've made it in that good of time in ideal conditions. Instead of six hours, it took us closer to nine. It was well after midnight before we staggered into a pokemon center. **

**With no pokemon to heal, we immediately collapsed into beds. Sadly it was short lived as the nurse followed us in and badgered us to get out of our wet clothes. She had a point but we were tired. We all changed into dry clothes and she collected our wet things. The nurse dumped them all into the available washing machine and then at some point during the night clearly put them in the dryer as well. She was off duty by the time we woke up so we had to leave a message at the front desk to thank her.**

**The weather favored us again. The sun occasionally hid behind the clouds but there was no rain. Other than a brief stop for Dylan to catch a pidgey, the day was enjoyingly uneventful. After everything we had gone through in the past two days, we welcomed the boredom.**

**Following a calming night spent our under the stars, Dylan estimated we were about a day's travel from the outskirts of Chicago and the next gym. I was a little hesitant to trust his estimate. Time proved him to be more right than wrong as the city slowly came into our view. The hustle and bustle of a lively city was now audible and grew greater as we got closer.**

"**I've never approached Chicago on foot," I said. "It's quite a bit different experience than driving in."**

**Dylan nodded. "Agreed. You get more of a chance to take everything in. Appreciate how big everything is from afar before you're stuck in between it all."**


	19. Chapter 19

We finally started seeing some people. A good number of them appeared to be trainers but no one challenged us. I think traveling in a group like we did deterred many trainers from asking to battle. Eventually a trio of girls approached us, asking if we wanted to battle them. Clearly, despite having a larger group, we weren't about to say no. A quick round of rock, paper, scissor determined that Dylan would be the odd man out. He was a good sport about it and agreed to play the role of referee if we needed it.

I paired off with a raven haired girl named Elizabeth. She appeared to be maybe a few years older than me but I wasn't really sure. We separated from the group and found a place for our battle. She wanted to battle five-on-five. I hesitated but declined that idea. After walking for most of the day, fatigue was bound to catch up with me eventually. I suggested a one-on-one but Elizabeth asked for a two-on-two. I figured I could handle that and went about picking my pokemon.

Charmander seemed like a logical choice. It was one of my more powerful pokemon and I hadn't used it in the last few battles. My second choice was a little more difficult. Both Treecko and Heracross had seen a lot of action lately and I didn't want to favor them too much. That left Mudkip and Pikachu. I settled on Mudkip as I was pretty sure I hadn't used it since my last gym battle.

"Ok," I called to Elizabeth. "I'm ready. Are we releasing pokemon at the same time?"

"That only seems fair. Ready? Go!"

As Charmander burst onto the field, I tried to get a better look at Elizabeth's pokemon. Using my pokedex I identified it as a tangela but it looked like just a big pile of blue vines. It moved slightly and I noticed the two red feet sticking out of the bottom of the pile. A few vines parted and two big eyes stared out at me and my pokemon.

"Quick Tangela, sleep powder!"

The grass pokemon gave a shudder and a mist of gold powder began drifting through the air. I immediately recognized Elizabeth's strategy. She needed to incapacitate my fire type pokemon because of it's super effectiveness against her pokemon before she even tried to attack.

I, however, was having none of that. "Burn it out of the air with flamethrower!"

The sleep powder was incinerated in a heartbeat. Tangela was scattered out of the way. The grass pokemon actually had a decent amount of speed. I decided that I probably shouldn't mess around to see what else it could do.

I pointed at Tangela. "Let's finish this up Charmander! Flamethrower again!"

"Char!" Charmander's aim was good but Tangela managed to dive out of the way. The flamethrower still caught it with a glancing blow. With it's weakness to fire, even that glancing blow was devastating Tangela was looking a little crispy as it got to it's feet.

"Charmander, metal claw!"

"Vine whip! Don't let that charmander get near you!"

"Block it and get in close!"

I had seen Dylan's bulbasaur use vine whip before so I had assumed it would only be a pair of vines when I instructed Charmander to block. Given that Tangela was essentially a giant mass of vines, I probably should've been expecting more. Ten vines lashed out at my pokemon. Charmander was able to block the first few but the rest of them struck the fire pokemon, sending it to the ground.

"Enough of this," I growled as the vines kept snapping at Charmander on the ground. "Flamethrower!"

Tilting it's head ever so slightly down, Charmander released it's flamethrower. The angle it chose let it roast the vines completely. After making short work of the vines, the flames swept over the source of the vines. At that point, I knew at least this round of the battle was mine.

With a sad look, Elizabeth recalled her Tangela. She said something to it that I couldn't hear and then tucked it away. A less than thrilled look covered her face as she brought out her next pokemon. Something told me that she hadn't selected her pokemon well or just hadn't expected me to have a fire type. The beedrill she released on to the field it might've been a little bit of both.

I looked over at Charmander. It didn't look like it had taken any real damage from it's battle with Tangela. Those vine whips couldn't have felt pleasant but their type limited any damage they might've caused. Given the type match-up here and Charmander's condition, it seemed illogical to make a substitution.

"Let's show them what you're made of Beedrill!" Elizabeth yelled. "Fury attack!"

For a moment, I debated toying around with the bug type and it's trainer. It didn't seem respectful and I knew I wouldn't want it done to me so I decided against it. "Charmander, flamethrower!"

It was over before it even began. Beedrill had to get in close to use it's fury attack. Charmander simply let it get as close as it wanted. Once the bug pokemon was close enough to strike, Charmander attacked. There was no chance for evasion. The fire washed over the bug to the point where I wasn't sure if the pokemon was even still there. Charmander closed off it's mouth and flames and that's when I saw Beedrill plummet to the ground. We didn't need a referee to call this one.

After a dejected Elizabeth had given me my winnings, I headed over to where the others were battling. My friends were not as fortunate as I was when it had come to type match-ups. David had even found himself on the wrong side of a type match-up and was now struggling to make a comeback with Vlad.

"That was certainly quick," Dylan said, distracting me from David's match. "One of you clearly didn't pick your pokemon well."

"Thankfully it was her," I replied with a grin. "She had a grass- and bug-type. I started out with Charmander."

Dylan winced. "Ouch. I'm surprised it even took you that long."

I shrugged. "If the first one hadn't dodged the brunt of a flamethrower, I probably would've won in two attacks."

"That would've been fun."

I gave him another shrug. "Yeah, I guess. It was kind of a let down really. Our last few battles have been really challenging. I mean with those guys in the woods, that double battle against David and Vanessa, and the gym battle. I want more battles like that. Those were fun."

Dylan looked at me. "I wouldn't be expecting that. Not every battle is going to take you to your limit. You're bound to run into matches like the one you just had. Probably fairly frequently too since you have a wide array of pokemon types."

"Yeah, well I-"

"Aw, no way!"

I spun around. "What?"

Vlad and a small greenish pokemon that I assumed was a grass type were laying face down on the ground. Neither appeared to be moving.

"What, what happened?" I sputtered.

"You missed it!" Dylan laughed. "Double knockout! That was awesome!"

David did not appear to be sharing Dylan's enthusiasm as he recalled Vlad to it's poke ball. The two opposing trainers offered each other nods of respect and parted. Vanessa said something quietly to David and the two of them rejoined Dylan and me.

"What happened there?" I asked.

"I started out with Steve, my geodude," David explained. "She started out with a poliwag. It didn't go well."

"Poliwag?"

"Water pokemon. After Steve went down, I took care of the poliwag pretty easily but then she pulled out a bellsprout. That was some rough going there."

Dylan gave him a shrug. "Could've been worse. You could've lost. Or not even gotten to battle."

With a smile, David shook his head. "Yeah, I guess so. Let's go find a pokemon center. I'm tired."

Taking the lead, Dylan and his GPS safely navigated us to the closest pokemon center. After handing over our pokemon to the nurse, we collapsed in the lounge area. A growl emanated from Vanessa's stomach, reminding us we hadn't had dinner yet. Once we had gotten our pokemon back we sought out a local restaurant.

One hearty meal later, we found ourselves back at the pokemon center. David had wanted to go scope out the gym for tomorrow but we overruled him. I had argued that there would be plenty of time for that tomorrow. It wasn't like we were in a rush or anything. Instead we relaxed in the lounge and took in more of the League Tournament.

I was actually the last one to wake up the next day, although judging by Vanessa's bewildered state, it wasn't by much. We had apparently stayed in a premium pokemon center or something because there were pastries, juice and coffee available for us. After eating our fill, we hit the road.

When we found the gym, we were fairly certain the GPS was malfunctioning. The gym in Detroit had looked much like a warehouse. The building we were lead to here in Chicago was literally a skyscraper. There were listings for businesses for the first number of stories even.

"Is this even right?" Vanessa asked. "I mean look at this place."

"Yeah, check it out." Dylan pointed at the sign built into the wall outside the door that listed the businesses inside. A large chunk of the sign was devoted to one particular business. It read: _Chicago Pokemon Gym. Gym Leader: Luke, the Lightning Legend._

"Can't these gym leaders ever just be gym leaders?" I scoffed. "Do they all have these goofy titles?"

The others ignored my comment and we filed into the building. It had seemed to me that battling with electric pokemon indoors would put the gym leader at a disadvantage, but what did I know? A large building map showed us that the gym itself was actually on the roof. With a deep breath, we stepped into the elevator and hit the roof button.

"What's your strategy here?" I asked Dylan as I tugged at the brim of my hat.

"I'm thinking I'm going to have to use Bulbasaur primarily," he said. "My two strongest pokemon are both weak against electricity. After Bulbasaur, it's probably a tossup between Oddish and Zigzagoon. And yourself?"

"Charmander all the way. Not weak against electricity and probably has the strongest attacks out of all my pokemon."

"Not a bad plan."

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. However, we were clearly not on the roof. Looking at the elevator, it certainly thought we were so we got out. We appeared to be in a small office area. I actually thought we had stumbled into some kind of accounting firm. A girl at a receptionists desk favored us with a smile.

"Ah, the first trainers of the day," she said. "Welcome to the Chicago Gym!"

"Wait, so this is a gym?" David looked around skeptically.

"Very much so," the girl nodded. "This is just the check-in location. Gym Leader Luke is in the back, preparing for the day's battles. Usually it's a little busier than this so we need some kind of check-in service."

One of the two doors in the back burst open. It revealed a hulking, brute of a man. I stood at just over six feet tall and it felt like he towered over me. He also clearly spent a lot of time in a normal gym working out. Below his bleach blonde spiked hair, tanned skin pinched eyes that sparkled with intelligence.

"Ah! Today's first challengers!" he boomed, clapping his hands together. "I was getting bored!"

"You mean today's first winners?" I said, clearly without thinking.

His eyes narrowed on me. "Clearly a confident bunch as well. The one with the mouth will be today's first victim."

I had already dug myself a hole, so I figured I might as well keep digging. "Bring it on. I'm ready."

Luke pointed upwards and then pushed through the other door. We hurried after him. After a short climb of stairs, we found ourselves on the actual roof. The entire thing had been encircled with fencing, presumably to protect anyone from falling off. A battle field had been outlined on the hard dirt but scorch marks told me that previous battles hadn't just been confined to the outlined area.

"Take your box," Luke ordered.

As I took the challenger's trainer's box, another man came up the stairs. Coming over to me, I discovered he was to be our referee. He got my name and hometown to use for his announcement. He stepped aside, giving me a good view of Luke across the field. I had a good feeling about this one.

"This is an official Chicago Gym battle!" the ref declared. "Tim from Grand Rapids is challenging Gym Leader Luke for the Thunder Badge! This will be a one-on-one battle! The first trainer to defeat the other's pokemon will be the winner! Go!"

I waited until I saw Luke's arm move to throw his poke ball. With a side armed pitch, I sent out my choice as well. "Charmander, go!"

Getting out my pokedex, I tried to identify Luke's pokemon. It looked a lot like a much larger pikachu. Instead of yellow, it was orange with a white belly. The tips of it's feet and paws were both brown. It's ears had fanned out and were now completely black. It's tail was long and thin, except for where it turned into a yellow lightning bolt shape. By the time I had finished examining it my pokedex had identified it as a raichu, the evolution of a pikachu.

"Go get him Tim!" Vanessa rooted from behind me with the others.

I gave them a thumbs up. "I'll show him what us Michiganders are made of. Charmander, flamethrower!"

"Raichu, thunderbolt!"

With a slight flick of it's head, Charmander released it's torrent of fire. Raichu arched back and then forward, exploding with electricity. The blast of lightning that raced out was far more massive than anything I had ever seen before.

"Holy crap! Look at that thing!" Dylan yelled.

The fire and lightning met in the center of the field. Their energies fused together and a giant orange and yellow orb began forming in the air. It crackled once with an unstable energy and then exploded. I squeezed my eyes shut and covered them with my arm to protect my vision from the incredible light. I had no idea how Charmander was faring at all.

"Another thunderbolt Raichu!"

"Rai-chu!" I opened my eyes just in time to see Charmander blasted off it's feet. The immense electric attack carried my pokemon past me, slamming it into the fence. Hairs on my arms stood on end as stray bolts went past me. Charmander screamed. With one last surge of electrical energy, the fire pokemon fell to the ground.

I dropped to my knees. "Charmander!"

The fire pokemon wasn't moving at all. Bits of lightning still crackled around it. I had never seen anything like that power before. I felt like I had been punched hard in the gut. Struggling to my feet, I raced over to Charmander. Cradling it in my arms I tried to think of something to say. It's eyes opened ever so slightly. It gave me a tiny smile, almost as if apologizing.

"I'm sorry Charmander," I whispered. "I got arrogant. I got arrogant and you paid the price. Never again. I'm sorry my friend."

"Char," it whispered back before it's eyes closed. Logic dictated that I should put the fire pokemon back into it's ball but I just sat there, holding it.

"Next victim?" Luke called.

Dylan stepped up. A determined look crossed his face. I hoped it meant he was eager to avenge me and Charmander. Or wipe the smug grin off of Luke's face. Either was perfectly fine with me.

"Alright, send out your pokemon," Luke said, crossing his arms over his chest. His raichu did the same.

"Bulbasaur, let's do this! Razor leaf!"

"Thunderbolt!"

It was eerily similar. Dylan's bulbasaur was blasted clean off the field, smashing into the fence only a few feet away from me. The grass pokemon, despite it's semi-type advantage, stood less of a chance than Charmander. Raichu ceased it's attack and Bulbasaur slumped down the fence. I looked over at the field. Raichu and Luke still hadn't even moved.

Dylan met my eyes with a horrified look as he recalled his pokemon. I realized my seat was not so safe so I put Charmander away and moved to the side. There were no words between any of us as David I hoped that David and his geodude could help us save at least some face.

"Here we go Steve! Magnitude!"

My eyes widened. Raichu should be weak against a ground type attack like magnitude. Things could be turning around for us. Steve jumped into the air for the attack.

"Iron tail!"

Raichu raced forward on all fours. The bolt shape on it's tail began to glow a deadly silver. I winced in anticipation. Raichu swung upwards, completely disrupting Steve's attack. The geodude was tossed back like it was a pebble. The electric pokemon gave chase and slammed it down with another iron tail. Just like that it was over. Vanessa was now our last hope. She stepped into the trainer's box as Raichu scampered back over to where it had spent most of the match standing. Luke was understandably looking very confident. Vanessa looked to be in deep thought.

"Cubone, let's win this for our friends!"

Luke grinned. "You still hold to the notion that you can win. At least you've got confidence, I suppose. Raichu, iron tail!"

Although not weak to steel attacks, Cubone was not at a very high level. Vanessa called for a head butt. Raichu simply waited for Cubone to come to it and then slammed it's tail down on the ground pokemon's head. Cubone dropped like a rock.

That was it. Luke had bested us all. Not only had be beaten us all badly, he had done it with the same pokemon consecutively. We looked like fools. I could only be glad that there was no one else but the ref here to see it. Anger took me and I stepped back into the trainer's box.

"Let's go," I snarled, Treecko in hand. "I want another shot."

"No."

I stepped back and flinched like I had been shocked. "What? Can you do that?"

Luke raised his chin. "My gym, my rules. Clearly none of you were actually prepared for this battle. You've most likely been riding high for a while. I want a loss like this to resonate with you, hopefully teach you something. You may re-challenge me the day after tomorrow."

We all looked at each other. None of us had any idea of whether or not this was actually allowed.

"Gym Leader Luke is in fact correct in that he can mandate this," the ref informed us. "If he feels trainers are not properly prepared to undertake a battle, he can issue them a temporary ban for up to three days to force them to prepare."

The elevator ride back down seemed much longer than the ride up. We didn't look at each other. No one spoke until we were out of the building.

"What now?" Vanessa sighed.

"Pokemon center, I guess," I said feebly. "I feel like I've been sent to my room…"

We almost got lost because Dylan was too dejected to keep a close eye on the GPS. Eventually we made it and handed our defeated pokemon over to the nurse. She had a sly smile on her face.

"You're the first batch of victims today," she said, almost teasing but not in a mean way. "Judging from your faces, I'd say you faced Luke's raichu."

David looked up at her. "It's power was unreal."

She smiled. "That's what everyone says the first time. Luke evolved it early because raichu are more powerful than pikachu. It does have a weakness. You just need to find it."

There was much more activity now than when we had left. It was quickly becoming clear that we had beaten the rush to the gym now. Many trainers were wandering around with the same confident demeanor that I'm sure I carried not more then two hours ago. I thought about warning some of them but the thought of others going through when we just had made me feel a little better.

"So what now?" I asked my friends. "How do we beat that thing?"

"I'm hoping they show some replays with a raichu," Vanessa replied, her eyes fixed on the television. It was showing recaps of some of the past weeks preliminary battles.

"Not a bad idea but we could be here all day waiting," Dylan sighed. "Even if they do show a replay, it's going to be quick."

David shook his head. "Unfortunately we've got nothing better. It's not like we've got a raichu we can study."

David's words triggered a light bulb in my mind. "No, but we've got the next best thing. Come on."

I lead them to the nurses' counter where we waited for our pokemon to finish being healed. The nurse seemed a little surprised to see us standing there. After she gave us our pokemon, I motioned for her to wait a moment.

I leaned forward. "Is there a place nearby where we'd have enough room to battle? Maybe a park or something?"

She smiled and pointed. "Go that way about three blocks. There's a small park there. Trainers sometimes gather there but it's early enough in the day that you should have it mostly to yourselves."

I thanked her. With me in the lead, we followed the direction the nurse had pointed us in. My friends trailed behind me. Vanessa suddenly had a hiccup in her step.

"Ohhhh," she said with a smile.

Dylan and David looked at her. "What?"

"Tim literally has the next best thing to a raichu: his pikachu! Raichu is an evolved pikachu!"

Dylan smacked himself in the forehead. "Of course! Hopefully other than the obvious power difference, it should be the same or close enough."

The nurse had not been kidding when she said it was a small park. Hidden between the tall buildings, it was like a little grassy oasis. The whole park was maybe the size of two standard sized battlefields. A row of benches lined one side of it. The rest was just grassy area. The others took a seat on the benches while I remained standing.

"Ok Pikachu, come on out!" I called as I tossed the poke ball up.

"Chu?" the small electric pokemon asked, clearly confused by a lack of battling partner.

"Ok Pikachu, here's the thing: we need your help." I crouched down to look it in the eye. "We got beat pretty bad by a raichu. We want to watch you do your thing and hope we can extrapolate to the raichu and maybe come up with a way to beat it. What do you say?"

"Ooo, extrapolate," David grinned. "Big word."

Pikachu ignored him and gave me a nod.

"Great!" I gave my pokemon a scratch behind the ears. "Have you learned thunderbolt yet?"

"Pika." It shook it's head.

I shrugged. "That's ok. Thundershock should give us the same idea. So give us one, just aim it up into the sky."

"Ka-chu!" Pikachu blasted out a bolt of lightning up away from the surrounding buildings. We all watched closely. After the attack had ceased everyone looked at each other.

"Ideas?" Dylan asked.

Everyone gave a negative shake of their head. I called for another thundershock. Again we were left without an answer. After a few more, I noticed that other trainers had started infiltrating the park. At first they seemed confused by what we were doing. Then they realized that we too had been decimated by Luke so they started studying Pikachu as well.

We changed it up with a few iron tails for a bit and then went back to thundershock. No one had any revelations at all. We even began sharing hypothesis's with each other. None really seemed to work. Then a sharp laugh broke through our brainstorming.

"How futile!"

I traced the sound of the voice back across the field. At first I thought it was Gym Leader Luke. On second inspection, the guy was way too skinny to be Luke. He had however styled his hair and clothes to look just like Luke's. The guy also had a familiar smug smile and posture that were quickly becoming annoying.

"Excuse me?" I said, daring him to repeat himself.

"You heard me!" he spat back "Luke and his raichu are the greatest pokemon team ever formed! The likes of you weaklings can't beat him!"

I held up a finger in warning. "Luke beat up one of my favorite pokemon pretty badly. I'm guessing he did the same to most of the people here so I'd choose my next words carefully for they might be your last."

The fake Luke sniffed. "Your pokemon was just pathetic. That's all."

Something inside me snapped. Dylan was quicker than me though and wrapped me up before I could charge. He was also a lot stronger. He locked his arms around me and even lifted me off the ground at one point.

"Settle it on the battlefield," he grunted and then set me down.

I fixed the wannabe with an icy stare. "We battle. Now."

His reply was lost on me as I recalled Pikachu to it's poke ball. In retrospect, I should've just had Pikachu blast the guy. That might've been a little excessive though. We stationed ourselves across the field from each other.

"Like the great Luke, I call forth Raichu!"

That sealed it. I didn't have to deliberate on my pokemon at all. Charmander was on the field without an announcement. The fire pokemon's body instantly went rigid. It turned and looked back at me. It's lips were twitching, revealing fangs. There was a hatred in Charmander's eyes that I had never seen before. I gave it a cool nod and got one in return. The flames on Charmander's tail erupted.

"Blaze?" Dylan nearly choked. "Already? The battle hasn't even started!"

"Ha! It means nothing!" the Luke fan waved it off. "Raichu, thunderbolt!"

"Flamethrower Charmander!"

It all seemed like déjà vu at first. The raichu bent backwards as it gathered it's energy. Charmander flicked it's head, mouth full of flames. That was where the similarities ended. Before Raichu could attack, it was covered in fire. The enhanced flamethrower washed over it, throwing it backwards. As quickly as it had begun, it was over.

"Raichu, no!" the Luke fan screamed. "How could you?"

A taunt was on the tip of my tongue but it stayed there. I tilted my head and focused for a second. It all became clear. I knew how to beat Luke's raichu.

"I've got it!" I whirled around to face my friends.

"Clearly," Dylan said with a nod. "You got it all over that raichu and his douche trainer."

"No, I mean how to beat Luke's raichu!"

David and Vanessa grabbed me and started pulling me out of the park. Reaching back, I recalled Charmander. We managed to separate from the rest of the crowd at the park eventually. Finding a small restaurant, we holed up there and I divulged my findings.

"The key is speed," I said, leaning over the table before leaning back so the waitress could put water in front of each of us.

Dylan shook his head. "That makes no sense. Luke's raichu was really fast. It was all over David's geodude before it could even get off an attack. No offense, but that's really not a good idea."

I paused for a moment to collect my thoughts. "Let me rephrase then. Speed is the key because it lets us survive. I had two battles with Charmander against raichu. In one, a thunderbolt and a flamethrower hit and cancelled each other out. In the second, the raichu never got an attack off."

The waitress came and got orders from us. When she departed, I continued.

"The difference between the two was Charmander was faster than the second raichu. I'm thinking that thunderbolt requires enough energy that there's a brief window of opportunity before it can be used."

David scratched at his beard. "So that gives you what? A second or two at best? That's not enough time to attack. Even when you did, well, you saw how it ended."

I held up a hand to forestall any other comments. "True, but I'm not talking about using that window to attack. A speedy pokemon could use that window of opportunity to at least get out of the path of the thunderbolt. If you can dodge, that'll open up a chance to counterattack."

"That makes sense," Vanessa agreed. "That helps you and Dylan but not so much me and David. Luke couldn't use thunderbolt with us because we had ground types."

"Oh, um, yeah, I forgot about that," I admitted. "I was just really excited about figuring out the thunderbolt thing."

Dylan took a sip of his water. "You might still be on the right path."

Vanessa looked at him. "How?"

"A fast pokemon with a ranged attack might be able to fend it off. If you can keep your distance and attack from a distance, that would keep you out of iron tail range. I noticed that raichu had a longer tail than a pikachu, but it can't be that long."

Our conversation paused as the waitress appeared again. She dropped off our food and asked if we needed anything else. We declined and she was gone. Food preoccupied us for a minute or two but then we refocused.

"That does seem plausible," David said after a big swallow. "Although you saw how quickly it closed the gap between it and Steve in my battle. It'd have to be some distance or a very quick attack."

I gave a shrug. "I guess it'd all depend on what pokemon you use. Everything we've got has it's pluses and minuses. Like my fastest is Treecko but it doesn't have any really strong attacks yet."

Vanessa eyed me. "You aren't giving Charmander another shot?"

I shook my head. "Treecko is faster. It also has a semi-resistance to electricity so even if it does get hit, it has a better chance of surviving."

Dylan glanced at his watch. "So now what? We've got a tactical plan now. Sadly we can't use it for at least another day. We can't really practice it either because we only have one electric pokemon."

"We probably need to flesh out our individual plans a little more," David suggested. "I say we just relax tonight and do some thinking. If we need to tomorrow we can actually try out some tactics. It'll be hard to do that around here without giving away our ideas though."

David was right. We couldn't just start blundering around the park trying out our new tactic for beating Luke. If for no other reason than all the other trainers would try and steal our idea. Presumably someone else would get the same bright idea, but until then we wanted to keep it under wraps.

We kept trying to fine tune the speed approach as we finished our food. After paying our bills, we headed back to the pokemon center. We discussed and debated whether or not the tactic would work for all of us and which pokemon we'd need to use to make it work. We were able to tweak it enough that it seemed likely that Dylan could pull it off using his bulbasaur.

Vanessa and David were presented with an even greater challenge however. Since they had pokemon that were immune to electricity, we had to figure out a way they could avoid Luke's devastating iron tail attack. Things weren't going very well until Dylan started consulting his pokedex.

"Hold up here," he said, leaning forward in his chair. "I think we may be on to something here. Ever hear of rock polish?"

The blank looks on our faces gave him our answer.

He grinned. "It's a rock move, obviously. It raises the speed of the user a fair bit. It's not a high-level move either so Steve probably knows it. Actually… if Steve knows magnitude, rock polish is learned before magnitude!"

David brightened up. "That might give me the edge I need! Really Steve just needs enough time to get off a good magnitude attack and it should be over."

"What about me?" Vanessa asked. "Anything useful in there for me?"

Dylan tapped a few buttons and I could see his eyes reading over the data. The look on his face didn't look too promising. "Nothing that's learned naturally. No speed-boosting moves."

Vanessa frowned. "Maybe I just won't use the speed thing… or I could just not use cubone."

I raised an eyebrow. "You wouldn't use a ground pokemon against an electric pokemon? What other possible route could you go? Your charmander isn't any faster than mine."

She smiled. "I have rattata. It's faster than both our charmanders _and _it knows quick attack and focus energy. If I do it right, I might be able to take down that stupid raichu in only a couple of hits."

"You know, that could work," David said, scratching at his beard. "Problem is, with rattata's low defense, if Raichu does get a hit in, it's over."

Vanessa just shrugged. "Go big or go home, I guess."

I barked a laugh. "You've got the right attitude at least."

"So now we've all go the basis for our game plans," Dylan said. "I guess now we just have to figure out how to implement them."

I leaned back into my chair, letting my body sink into the cushioning. I steepled my fingers in front of my mouth as I thought. We had finally come up with a way to counter both iron tail and thunderbolt. That's when another thought hit me. "Uh oh."

Three heads slowly turned to look at me. Vanessa was the first to speak. "What? Something wrong?"

I flicked my eyebrows up as I pursed my lips. "Possibly. It's just occurred to me that while we've figured out how to defend against iron tail and thunderbolt, we did miss something."

"Such as?" Dylan motioned for me to spill the beans.

"Yeah, I'm betting that raichu knows more than two attacks."

David hissed through gritted teeth. "Oh man, how did we not think of that? Of course it's going to know more than two attacks. Given that it's a gym leader's pokemon, we can't even assume that it'd most likely only have naturally learned moves."

"So what do we do then?" Vanessa asked. "Scrap our plans?"

I shook my head. "No way. We have to know how to defend against what we know is coming. We'll just have to improvise for the rest of it."

"Well he let us all watch each other last time," Dylan pointed out. "We should be able to coach each other and see how our pokemon fair. I think we should be alright unless he has some super powerful move in reserve."

With our fears as quenched as they could be, we tried to relax that night. The lounge at this center was very nice compared to some of the others we had stayed at. Besides being larger, it was better furnished. The couches and chairs, besides being more numerous, were far more comfortable. Instead of a small television mounted on the wall, there was a forty-inch screen for us to watch the tournament on. We were thankful for that because preliminaries had finally ended.

"Question for you," David said to me during a break in a match. "Where are we thinking of heading next?"

I readjusted in my chair so I could see him not just out of my peripherals. "Not sure yet. We can either go east and get the two gyms along the east coast or head west. I think there's a gym somewhere up in one of the Dakotas. Then we could do a big loop around and get the others. Why?"

"Did I tell you about my cousin Dani?"

I thought for a moment. "I think you may have mentioned her in passing."

David nodded. "That's what I thought. She's a breeder that lives just a little bit west outside the city. I was thinking maybe we could go visit for a day or two if we were going that way."

"We could probably do that regardless of which way we go," I replied with a shrug. "If she's not that far outside Chicago, I don't see why not. If she's like a five day walk or drive though, no way."

"Not that far, no," David assured me with a shake of his head. "Maybe a half-day's walk. Probably a thirty minute cab ride from here."

"I've got no issue with it then. If the others are cool with it, then let's go."

"Cool. Thanks man."

Despite the gym battle looming in our future, it was nice to relax for a night. Watching the League Tournament was a great way to take our minds off of things. The thrill of high-octane battles by extremely skilled trainers made us forget our own worries and woes. What we were up against with Luke was nothing compared to what these trainers were facing. If we lost, we could get another shot at Luke later. If these trainers lost, they did so on national television and got no second chances. It really put things into perspective I felt.

The next day we got back down to business. We devoted our every waking moment to figuring out how we were going to take down Luke. To my surprise, David even turned down a battle from a random trainer in the pokemon center. I had to admire his dedication because I wouldn't have had the willpower to deny the challenge.

The center grew crowded with Luke's defeats and soon-to-be's so we had to find ourselves a new place to scheme. We ended up in the park for a while. Treecko and I trained on pinpoint turning as much as we could before it got crowded.

My logic was Treecko would have only a second or two to dodge when a thunderbolt was called for. I had it race along and I'd call out for turns to simulate attacks. Having never tried anything like it before, I wasn't sure how effective it would be but I felt it was working.

Later in the evening we tried to get back into the gym just to watch some of the other trainers try their luck. Apparently when we were banned, it wasn't just from battling though. We were barred from even getting off the elevator onto the Gym level. The secretary who either had secretly taken our picture or just had a really good memory shooed us out the second we tried to set foot onto the floor.

Dylan attempted to sneak back in again with a large group of trainers. The secretary had eyes like a swellow to go along with her photographic memory. She spied Dylan instantly and forced him back onto the elevator. Rejected again, we migrated back to the pokemon center. After a quick dinner, we settled in to watch more of the League Tournament while we silently tinkered with our strategies in our heads until we were practically falling asleep in our chairs.

Despite my exhaustion, I had trouble sleeping that night. I kept thinking about my strategy as I tossed and turned. Although I had no better ideas or late-night brainstorms, I couldn't help but think I was missing something. The feeling plagued me until I finally fell asleep for good.


	20. Chapter 20

There was no time for showers or anything in the morning. We didn't even change clothes. Vanessa tied her hair back and us guys donned hats. We didn't waste time stopping for breakfast, instead grabbing some of the complementary donuts and eating them along the way.

Our departure had been well-timed. Traffic in the gym building was minimal. We were alone as we boarded the elevator to the top. As we got closer, I began to get more jittery. My hands even had a slight tremble to them. When we got off at the top floor, I could feel a cold sweat forming. I saw Luke standing there and my mouth dried up instantly.

He gave us a grin. "I thought I might see you four today. I didn't expect it to be so early though. Have we learned anything?"

We fixed him with a hard glare. None of us said anything, not willing to give him anything.

"I like the determination, no smart remarks this time," he said and then pointed at Dylan. "You're first."

My mouth curled into a snarl. I had wanted first crack at Luke. I wasn't about to say anything or he might ban me again. Instead we all silently followed.

Luke turned around and fixed us with a look. "Where do you think you three are going? I said he was first."

"Um, up to the top… to watch like last time?" Vanessa stammered.

"No."

I twitched like I had been shocked. "What?"

Luke shook his head. "You clearly have some kind of game plan now. I want to see you each implement it individually. Once you battle me, you can stay up top to watch your friends but until then, you want down here."

Before I could form a complaint, Luke and my best friend were gone up the stairs. The gym leader seemed to be constantly one step ahead of us. Vanessa and David took a seat in some of the chairs the secretary offered us. I was content to pace the floor. My confidence began to falter the longer I waited. Suddenly, an idea struck me and I began rooting around in my backpack.

"What are you doing?" David asked.

I pulled out my mp3 player and held it up triumphantly. "Getting pumped up."

Setting the headphones on my ears, I dialed up some rock and roll. Fast paced guitar riffs and rocking beats got my pulse racing and my adrenaline going. I bobbed my head as I continued to pace the floor. I was quickly lost in my own little world.

Suddenly the door to the stairs burst open. Luke emerged, sunlight pouring in around him making his entrance all the more dramatic. He fixed me with a look, an evil grin crept over his face.

"I could make you wait more since you're clearly just chomping at the bit to get at me," I heard him say to me after I removed my headphones. "That'd just be downright mean though. I want to teach you, not torture you. Let's go. You're up."

Tucking my mp3 player back away, I moved to follow Luke back up the stairs. I tossed Vanessa and David a thumbs up as I disappeared from their view. When I hit the roof, I instantly tried to spy Dylan. I found him standing off to the side beside the referee. His face was completely void of emotion, not even meeting my eyes.

"Your friend is under instruction to give away nothing about his battle with me," Luke called over his shoulder as he moved to his box. "You will be too once we finish. I want all of you starting with a clean slate. Take your box."

I complied with his order, still studying Dylan. He was doing a good job of displaying no emotions but I still hoped I could glean something from him. It was quickly becoming a moot effort.

"This is the rematch between Gym Leader Luke and Tim from Michigan!" the ref declared. "Trainers will use two pokemon! The battle-"

"Wait, what?" My head drifted forward, my eyes going to slits.

"I'm changing things," Luke smiled. "You've already met Raichu. You need to meet some of it's friends."

I completely toned out the rest of the refs spiel. Suddenly that feeling I had last night that I was missing something came back. My entire game plan had been built around battling Luke's raichu one-on-one. This threw a huge wrench in my plans.

I focused back in on the ref. "The challenger will have access to all his pokemon while the gym leader must choose in advance."

Lifting a finger, I cut him off again. "Sorry, but what? I didn't understand that last part."

The ref looked at me with more patience than I would've expected. "You do not need to select the pokemon you want to battle with before the match starts. You can freely choose during the match, however you can still only use two total. Gym Leader Luke, however, must choose his pokemon in advance."

"Oh, ok. That makes sense. Thanks."

"My pleasure."

It was the exact opposite of what Steven had us do back in Detroit. We had to predetermine our pokemon then and adapt to use what we had. Now I had the chance to choose on the fly. It was an interesting concept but I was wary that it was probably some kind of a trap.

The ref waved a hand at Luke. "Gym Leader, the first selection is yours!"

Luke grinned again, holding up a poke ball in a muscled hand. "I picked this pokemon out with you specifically in mind. Say hello to Electabuzz!"

I wasn't in the mood for pleasantries. The electric pokemon had a coat of yellow fur with black zigzags running through it. A long striped tail swished around behind it. It had two thick arms that looked like they packed a lot of punch. Two small stalks with little balls on them stuck out of it's head like antennae. Sparks occasionally crackled between them.

Chewing on the inside of my cheek, I considered my options. Charmander always seemed like a good option, but Luke had already seen it in action. Presumably he was hoping that I'd use it again. There might have been some kind of weakness he wanted to exploit and put me in a deep hole early on. If I eliminated the fire pokemon from the equation, I really only had one option.

"Heracross, let's go!"

Luke actually looked surprised. "Wow, that was not what I was expecting at all. Maybe your charmander or a grass type but definitely not a heracross. I haven't seen one of those in a long time."

"Begin!" the ref shouted, forestalling any comments I might've made.

"Let's show him what we're made of!" I bellowed, pointing at Electabuzz. "Horn attack!"

Heracross' wings popped out of it's shell. It launched itself at the electric pokemon. Electabuzz deftly sidestepped it. Heracross stopped on a dime and swung it's horn back around. This time the electabuzz wasn't so fast. The force of the blow knocked it to the ground.

"Low kick!" Luke ordered, taking advantage of his pokemon's location.

Jabbing a clawed foot out, the electric pokemon kicked Heracross' feet out from underneath it.

"Fly up!"

Heracross never touched the ground. It's wings sprang to life and carried it up into the air. It set back down a few feet away.

Luke was clearly impressed. "Your heracross has some moves, I'll give it that much. Let's see you dodge this though. Thundershock!"

Lightning crackled between the two antennae on Electabuzz's head and then exploded out. The electricity blasted my pokemon, engulfing it fully. The bug pokemon screeched in pain. I had to think fast.

"Get out of there! Aerial ace!"

Heracross' eyes snapped back open. It shot into the sky, freeing itself from it's lightning torture. Making a tight loop in the air, the bug pokemon came screaming down at Electabuzz. The electric pokemon blasted away with thundershock again. The white energy that was flowing from Heracross and the lightning repulsed each other, exploding and flinging the two pokemon apart.

"Thunderpunch!" Luke called. "Squash that bug!"

That was an attack I knew how to deal with. "Night slash!"

Lightning crackled around the fist of Electabuzz as it raced in. The right claws of Heracross began to glow with a purple dark-type energy while it charged forward. The two pokemon swung, fists colliding. There was a flash, then an explosion. When the smoke and light cleared, neither pokemon had moved. They still stood in place, fists still touching.

"Fury attack!" I shouted, sensing a possibly opening.

Heracross became a cloud of swinging body parts. Electabuzz threw up it's arms to shield itself but damage was still being done.

"Thunderpunch!"

This time I didn't have enough time to react. A swinging electrical uppercut laid Heracross out. The bug pokemon slid across the hard dirt to rest at my feet. I didn't even bother asking if it wanted to keep going. Heracross was already climbing back to it's feet. It gave me a quick flex to show it was still going strong.

While I was glad Heracross still had some fight left, I wasn't sure exactly how to use that fight. "Aerial ace!"

I knew that the flying move wouldn't have a whole lot of an effect on an electric type like Electabuzz, but I liked have Heracross in the air. It was much more agile while in flight and with the speed of electric attacks, it need that extra agility.

"Block that aerial ace with thundershock!"

Luke's reaction intrigued me as I watched the two attacks cancel each other out in an explosion like before. Even though he knew that a flying type move wouldn't cause much damage, he was going to great lengths to make sure that it didn't land. He was actually trying to keep physical contact between the two pokemon to a minimum.

"Blast Heracross out of the sky with thundershock!"

Heracross began dancing in the air as Electabuzz sent bolt after bolt of lighting at it. The bug pokemon was barely staying one step ahead. If I was going to do something, I had to do it soon. Using all that electricity had to be wearing on Electabuzz but not as much as it would be on Heracross if it hit home.

Suddenly an idea hit me. "Heracross, aerial ace! Aim low!"

"Cross! Hera cross!" Ducking under a blast of lighting, Heracross screamed through the sky. The constant use had been wearing on Electabuzz as much as I had counted on.

"Jump Electabuzz!" Luke ordered. "Dodge it!"

The electric pokemon had a surprisingly high vertical jump. Heracross managed to stop itself before crashing into the ground. Changing directions, it raced back into the sky. With Electabuzz in the air, I had to hope we could score a critical hit.

"Night slash!"

"Block it with light screen!"

Electabuzz threw it's hands forward, fingers splayed out. A shimmering yellow box formed around the pokemon. It grinned triumphantly.

My eyes went wide. "Brick break!"

The purple glow on Heracross' claws faded as a red glow covered it's x-shaped horn. Picking up speed, the bug pokemon raced in at Electabuzz. It blasted straight through the light screen, shattering it. Heracross plowed straight through the electric pokemon, the damage it caused amped up by the boost brick break got when it destroyed a barrier. With a scream, Electabuzz fell towards the ground.

The opening I had hadn't closed just yet. "Horn attack!"

The electric pokemon hit the ground hard enough to bounce. Heracross drove it's horn into Electabuzz's belly on the rebound. The electric pokemon was crushed down into the dirt, making an electabuzz-sized dent.

"Thundershock!"

Heracross was blasted away. It landed sprawled out a few feet away. Both pokemon were slow getting up although I had a hunch that Electabuzz wasn't going to get up again if it went down once more. I planned to follow up on that hunch.

"Horn attack!"

"Thunderpunch!"

The two pokemon barreled in on each other. At the last second, Heraross gave it's wings a pair of beats. It was just enough to lift it over the swinging electabuzz. Touching back down, the bug pokemon swung around and slammed it's horn down. The brunt of the horn took Electabuzz in the upper back, driving it down to the ground. My hunch proved itself correct.

"Electabuzz is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Heracross is the winner!"

Luke looked like he had taken a thundershock of his own. "Wow, I can't believe Electabuzz lost! You've really trained your heracross well. You're also far more focused and in-tune with your pokemon than I expected."

I ignored him for the most part. Instead, I concentrated on Heracross. It's body heaved with every deep breath that it took. Clearly the battle had taken it's toll on the bug pokemon. No matter what pokemon Luke had chosen, I wasn't going to have an option about swapping.

"I hope you've prepared your next pokemon as well as the first!" Luke warned. "Raichu! Let's go!"

The moment I had been waiting for was here at last. "Heracross, return! Treecko, you're up!"

The gym leader gave me a half smile. "That's interesting. I was hoping to have round two be a rematch."

"I considered it," I admitted. "I don't need to have my pokemon avenge their losses individually. We fight as a team! We win and lose as a team!"

Dylan finally displayed some emotion, clearly surprised by my passionate outburst. I couldn't blame him though, as I was a little surprised myself.

"I'm glad you're really getting into this," Luke said. "That's what battling gym leaders is supposed to be all about. Shall we?"

The ref nodded. "Gym Leader, the first attack is yours."

Luke gave him a nod back. "Let's make this short and sweet: Raichu, thunderbolt!"

Raichu puffed up and arched back. It was now or never. "Quick attack!"

Like it was shot out of a gun, Treecko took off to it's left. A split second later, the ground it had occupied exploded as it was struck by a ferocious lightning bolt. Chunks of ground were thrown everywhere. Treecko continued it's frenzied pace, unharmed. My plan was working.

"Bullet seed!"

Putting on the brakes, Treecko began pelting Raichu with seeds. The electric pokemon held up it's tail and arms to try and shield it's face and body. The grass attack wasn't doing much damage. This was going to take a lot longer than I had expected.

"Blow those seeds away with a thunderbolt!"

"Quick attack!"

Treecko was on the move again as lightning ionized the air where it had been standing. Raichu was now down on all fours, trying to keep up with where Treecko was going. It always seemed to be just a little bit behind. Electricity crackled in it's cheek pouches, but Treecko was never still enough to get a good shot off.

I tilted my head as I watched this. Clearly Treecko was fast, but a raichu was an evolved pikachu, also a fast pokemon. My own pikachu knew quick attack. Following that logic, Raichu should've been easily keeping up with my grass pokemon. Then something the pokemon center nurse said came back to me:

"_Luke evolved it early because raichu are more powerful than pikachu. It does have a weakness. You just need to find it."_

A grin slowly spread across my face. Luke must have evolved the pikachu he caught instantly and then taught it thunderbolt and iron tail later. It never had a chance to learn quick attack!

"Hit it hard and hit it fast!" I yelled.

Zigzagging in, Treecko slammed into Raichu. The electric pokemon was knocked sideways. It tried for an unfocused, off balance thunderbolt. The bulk of the blast missed Treecko but a few stray bolts gave it a good zap. The grass pokemon rolled out of it and glanced back at me for orders.

Luke was faster with his own orders. "Crush it with iron tail!"

"Block it with pursuit!"

The two pokemon raced in at each other, tails glowing. Raichu screeched to a halt and swung it's silvery tail around like a whip. Treecko launched into the air, spinning and putting it's full body weight behind it's glowing purple tail. The glowing appendages slammed into one another, momentarily suspending Treecko in midair. Then the glow from my pokemon's tail faded. Iron tail smacked Treecko across the field with it's remaining energy. Clearly Treecko's pursuit was not as powerful as Raichu's iron tail.

"Hang in there Treecko!" I called as the grass pokemon collected itself. "Bullet seed again!"

Although it was posed like it was ready to run, Treecko started firing. I just had to hope that all the small damage would add up to big damage. The gym leader was on to me by now and called for Raichu to break up the seed attack with thundershock instead of thunderbolt to conserve energy.

"Quick attack!" My pokemon was off to the races again. Although we had trained for this, I still had doubts as to how long we could keep it up. Treecko bowled into Raichu, knocking it over again. I spared a look at the grass pokemon. All the movement was clearly taking it's toll. I mulled it over in my head for a second but didn't see how I had much of a choice.

"Treecko, return!"

Luke looked taken aback, as did Dylan.

Heracross replaced Treecko on the field now. Although it still seemed a bit worn, the rest in the poke ball had clearly revived it a bit. I felt more confident now that I had made the right choice.

I pointed at Raichu. "Time to introduce yourself to Raichu! Brick break!"

"Block it with iron tail!"

Silver and red smashed together, neither pokemon able to overpower the other. The energy in the attacks diffused, throwing them apart. Both landed on their feet. Then Heracross dropped down to one knee as electricity played across it's body. Suddenly it let out a mighty scream. I could see that it's eyes were glowing red with a new inner fire.

"No!" Luke screamed. "Guts has been activated!"

My pokedex was already in my hand before Luke had said anything. Apparently Heracross had the ability of 'guts' and it's attack was dramatically increased when it had a status ailment. Like being paralyzed like it was now.

"Like the show used to ask 'Do you have it?'" I regretted saying it because it was so cheesy but I had nothing better. "Now horn attack!"

Raichu never knew what hit it. A bone-crushing horn attack almost sent Raichu through the fencing that prevented anything from falling off the building top. The electric pokemon slid down the fence, pain and anger rippling over it's face.

"Get rid of this bug," Luke snarled. "Thunderbolt!"

Heracross was nowhere near as fast as Treecko. It didn't stand a chance at dodging the mighty electrical attack. It stood there rigid as it's body absorbed the lightning. Once the attack ceased, it wavered there for a moment. I held out hope for a fleeting second. In my mind it sounded like a crashing tree as Heracross toppled over.

I recalled it to it's poke ball and looked at it. "Thank you. You've given us the opportunity we needed to win. Treecko! Let's finish this up!"

Luke's raichu was breathing hard now. Heracross' amplified horn attack had done some serious damage. Treecko's rest in the poke ball had given it an opportunity to get it's wind back. The ball was in my court now.

"Crush that treecko!" Luke yelled. "Iron tail!"

"Dodge it with quick attack!"

Raichu's tail slammed down not where Treecko had been but where it thought it might be headed. Luckily Treecko had chosen a different direction. Luke had clearly figured out my trick. I had to turn it up a notch.

"Strike and follow with pound!"

This time quick attack knocked Raichu back a few feet. Treecko landed on all fours and then sprang forward. Yanking itself around, it caught Raichu in the side of the head with pound. The raichu was tossed aside again.

"Bullet seed!"

I wasn't so much concerned with the damage this time. I just wanted to keep the pace up. Constantly attacking put more pressure on Luke to figure out how to cut us off.

"Thundershock!"

This time I was the one who wasn't prepared for the pace. Raichu was able to use thundershock much faster than it could thunderbolt. Treecko was blasted across the field before I could react. I could see that the last few attacks had built nicely on what Heracross had given us.

"Quick attack into pound again!"

The one thing that Luke hadn't anticipated was that thundershock had put a lot of space between the two pokemon. Space Treecko used to build up a whole lot of speed. A blazing fast body check lifted Raichu off it's feet and hurled it into the fence.

The mesh metal rebounded it right back at a waiting Treecko.

With precise timing, Treecko jumped into the air. It caught Raichu just right, getting it's full body weight behind the pound attack. Raichu was driven face first down into the dirt. If this had been a cartoon show, Raichu's eyes would've been replaced by little back X's.

"Tree-cko!" my pokemon cried and then began to glow.

I gasped as Treecko began to change. It's tail grew out and then split into what looked like long leaves. It's three fingers turned into two and then they and it's toes curled over into claws. The body of the grass pokemon seemed be stretched out, growing taller and longer. It had a more predatory look to it now. A long, thin leaf sprouted from it's forehead. A trio of leaves grew forth on the outsides of each of it's forearms. When the light faded I could see a green stripe cutting across it's pink belly.

"Holy crap," I breathed, pulling out my pokedex.

"Grovyle!" it introduced itself.

We were all silent for a moment, in awe of the new pokemon until the ref broke into the quiet. "Raichu is unable to battle! Tree… Grovyle is the winner! Victory to the challenger!"

I was still too overwhelmed by everything to move. A lot had just happened in a very, very short period of time. It was a lot to take in.

"Not only winning, but winning with style," Dylan laughed. "Not too shabby!"

Luke cracked a smile as well. "It would seem that I underestimated you. Perhaps I should've allowed you an instant rematch after our first match."

I finally snapped out of my daze. "Yeah, well, you know. Making me wait was probably the best thing that could've happened. I wouldn't have figured out how to beat Raichu if I hadn't been forced to stew on my defeat."

"Ah, yes, the speed deficit," Luke said as he collected his pokemon.

"Wait, you know about it?" I was shocked. "Why not teach Raichu like Agility or something?"

Luke laughed. "For this very reason. Losing to me the first time forced you to dissect a loss and find a weakness in your opponent. I won't be the first gym leader you lose to. That skill will come in handy. You won't get many opportunities to use it because the random trainers you encounter will rarely give you a rematch so better to learn it and hone it now."

Considering his words, I turned to Dylan. "So did it work for you too?"

Dylan flicked at an invisible piece of dust on his shirt. "Yeah, but not quite as successfully. I opted to use Oddish. I think I got lucky with a sleep powder. Even when I had numbers, Luke still almost beat me. Bulbasaur was barely hanging on at the end there but a win's a win."

The gym leader tossed him a salute. "Correct you are. Unless you cheat, it doesn't matter how you won, as long as you did. Luck very often plays a huge role in battles. More than anyone realizes."

"So do we get our badges now?" I asked as I removed Grovyle from the battlefield.

"Not yet," Luke said with a shake of his head. "I thought I'd present them to you all at once, provided your other friends beat me." He focused his gaze on me. "I expect you to do the same as your friend here when the others come up. Show no emotion when your friends are brought up. You can chat with each other during the battle, cheer even but no giving advice. I reserve the right to revoke your badge if you do."

"Yes sir!" I wasn't about to lose a badge that I had just fought that hard for. It occurred to me that he'd be at more of a disadvantage now that my treecko had evolved but I felt it was probably unwise to voice that. Luke disappeared down below to presumably heal his pokemon and get his next challenger.

I turned to the ref. "Can I ask you something?"

He regarded me with a surprised look. "Sure. What is it?"

I tried to figure out how best to say it. "Luke didn't want to paralyze my heracross because of it's Guts ability but he kept using electric attacks. He tried to keep physical contact to a minimum but still used attacks that were likely to paralyze. Why?"

"Oh that's simple," the ref gave me a smile. "Both Electabuzz and Raichu have the 'static' ability. Whenever there's physical contact, there's a thirty percent chance of paralysis. With attacks like thunderbolt and thunder punch, there's only a ten percent chance of paralysis. He was simply playing the odds."

I winced. Luck had played more of a role in my battle than I realized. Treecko had beat some long odds to not have gotten paralyzed. I could recall roughly at least five times when they had physical contact. If my pokemon had gotten paralyzed, I would've been completely sunk. "Talk about luck."

The door creaked open and the ref made a hushing motion with his hand. "The gym leader has returned. Remember to be silent and show no emotion. Your badge depends on it."

I schooled my face in a look of pure stone. Afraid my eyes might give me away, I let them get unfocused. Through blurred vision I could see David taking the trainer's box. Luke gave him the same talk he gave me and the referee repeated his part as well.

David nodded. "I'm ready."

The ref looked to Luke. "Gym Leader, you have the first move."

"Right!" Luke exclaimed, holding up a poke ball. "Let's see how you handle this! Electrike, go!"

Like he had with me, Luke opted to throw something new at David. I pulled out my pokedex as I examined the new electric pokemon. It was small and green with yellow highlights. A three pronged tail rose up in the back as it stood on four legs. The back of it's head was elongated, almost like a shield.

David paused for a moment to consider his options. He could use his geodude now but then it might be tired or possibly beaten for Luke's next pokemon. He decided that it was still the best route. "Let's go Steve!"

Dylan glanced at me. "That how you would've played it?"

I shook my head slightly. "Nope. I would've use my mankey first. Assuming Luke does use his raichu, I'd want the only pokemon I have that has super effective attacks fresh. I'm not him though."

If nothing else, David had presented a challenge to Luke. Researching the electric pokemon with my pokedex, I determined that it was unable to learn many attacks that would be threatening to a rock pokemon. It really could only learn Iron Tail through TM or Ice Fang via breeding. Normally those kind of odds would heavily be in David's favor but this was a gym leader.

"Let's get things rolling!" David called out. "Steve! Tackle attack!"

With the geodude bounding in on his pokemon, Luke leapt into action. "Bite!"

Lunging forward, Electrike latched onto Steve's arm. Using the rock pokemon's own momentum, it flung it to the ground. Steve skidded across the dirt. It spun around, hardly damaged and ready for more.

"Luke's got nothing," I whispered to Dylan. "I don't think Electrike has any attacks that can damage a rock type."

"Maybe nothing that's super effective, I'll give you that," Dylan countered. "Electric moves can damage rock types, just not a whole lot. I'll agree that Luke's probably in for a world of hurt though."

As if he agreed, David ordered Steve to use another tackle. Electrike stood it's ground. The electric pokemon looked surprisingly confident.

"Thunder fang!"

Electrike intercepted Steve's tackle like it had before only this time it's mouth crackled with lightning. Electricity played over Steve as it was thrown to the ground again. The rock pokemon winced as the lightning crackled over it's body once more before dissipating.

I was impressed. "You sure called that one, Dylan. Although David's not just going to do this all day."

As I said it, the look in David's eyes almost convinced me otherwise. He knew that his pokemon wasn't taking any real damage. He could keep this up all day and Electrike would run out of energy way before Steve would. In theory anyway.

David knew better than to trust a theory. "Magnitude!"

Steve jumped into the air and came crashing down. Impacting the ground, Steve sent out powerful shockwaves that rippled through the field. Electrike looked to be in some serious pain as it's legs collapsed out from under it. Following it up with a quick tackle, David had done away with Luke's first pokemon.

The ref waved a hand. "Electrike is unable to battle! Steve is the winner!"

"Not too shabby," Luke commented. "Although you allowed your geodude to take on way more damage than you needed to."

David was silent.

"Let's see if that comes back to bite you. Raichu, you're up!"

I could see David's hand twitch and I could tell he was contemplating his next move. He could bring Steve back and let it rest or let things play out on the field. He was clearly agonizing over the decision. Finally he went with the pokemon he had on the field.

"Steve! Use rock polish!"

The geodude clapped it's hands together in front of it's face with a thud. It's whole body began to pulse with a brownish-red glow. The glow faded but there was something different about Steve. The rock pokemon's normally craggy body was much smoother and streamlined.

Luke smiled. "Ah, I see you're trying the same approach. Let's see how well it works for you! Raichu, use iron tail!"

David was ready. "Dodge it Steve!"

The speed boost that rock polish provided turned out to be just enough. Steve backed away, dodging the iron tail by a mere handful of inches. Raichu spun around with another iron tail. This time Steve jumped over it.

"Magnitude!"

The rock pokemon crashed to the ground, sending out shockwaves. Raichu staggered but didn't fall. It swung it's tail around with a third iron tail, just barely clipping Steve but enough to toss it back.

"Well that sucked," Dylan snorted. "Of all the times to get a low level magnitude… He probably could've ended the battle right there."

I looked at my friend, confused. "Low level?"

Dylan sighed and rolled his eyes. "Must I explain everything? Magnitude doesn't do consistent damage. Each attack is different and measured in levels. The higher the level, the more powerful. That last one was probably about a level four which is not good at all."

Making a face, I turned back towards the battle. "Gross. Well, you remember what Luke was saying about luck. Looks like he got some here."

"Steve, use rock throw!" David yelled, changing up the pace.

"Geo dude!" the rock pokemon shouted as it punched at the ground. Shards of rock exploded up at Raichu. It scampered away, taking minimal damage.

"Let's see how you like this," Luke called. "Thunderbolt!"

Both Dylan and I jerked back. Even a powerful electric attack wasn't going to do much good.

"Rai-chu!" The electric pokemon erupted with a giant lightning blast aimed straight at Steve. Even with it's increased speed, it wasn't going to have a chance at dodging. It had to take it's chances and hope it's elemental type saved it.

David looked slightly worried. "Stay strong Steve!"

The geodude was gritting it's teeth, it's hands curled into fists. Finally the attack ceases. Smoke curled up off the rock pokemon. Steve clearly had not enjoyed that at all. In fact, it seemed to have done way more damage than it had any right to do.

"Well now, that's interesting," I mused as I traced the stubble on my jaw.

Dylan looked at me. "What's that?"

"I think Luke just went for broke right there."

"With a thunderbolt? You're nuts," Dylan dismissed me with a shake of his head.

"That attack did way more damage than it should've. I think his raichu just used every bit of electrical energy it had. He had to be hoping that it'd either knock Steve out or at least do enough damage to draw the end closer."

My fellow trainer digested that for a moment and saw that I might have a point. Dylan scrunched his face up as he thought. "Maybe but what about David's next pokemon? He can't just keep iron tailing everything to death."

I shrugged. "As long as he buys it a minute or two to recharge, it'll be like nothing ever happened."

"You ok Steve?" David called to his pokemon.

"Dude," his pokemon grunted.

"Alright," David said with a nod. "Let's finish this up then. Magnitude!"

"You might want to find some new tricks." Luke gave him a sinister grin. "Iron tail!"

Steve bounded into the air as Raichu started towards it, down on all fours. As the rock pokemon crashed down, Raichu jumped forward and slammed it's glowing tail down. The force of the iron tail launched the electric pokemon high into the air and well above the effects of magnitude. It's tail began to glow with the silvery light again as it rolled forward. Completing it's roll, Raichu brought it's tail crashing down on Steve.

"Steve! No!" David was in complete disbelief.

"Damn dude, that was sick," Dylan breathed.

The ref ran over to check on Steve. The rock pokemon still moved so the match continued.

"Finish it up Raichu!" Luke pointed at the down geodude. "One last iron tail!"

Raichu towered over Steve. The geodude stirred but it clearly had taken a lot of damage from the last iron tail. There was no dodging this attack.

David squeezed his eyes shut. "Self destruct!"

Crossing it's arms in front of itself, the rock pokemon glowed a bright white. At first I thought it was evolving. Then a huge explosion ripped through the field, seemingly igniting from Steve. Raichu had been at ground zero and was flung completely across the field, bouncing off the perimeter fence. I held up my hand to shield my eyes from flying debris. When the dust settled, I lowered my hand.

"Steve is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Raichu is the winner."

Raichu certainly didn't look like a winner. The electric pokemon was still struggling to get back to it's feet. However, it was doing better than Steve. Surprisingly, the rock pokemon was still intact but completely unconscious.

David recalled his pokemon to it's ball and gave it a nod of his head. He said something softly to it and tucked it back into his belt carrier. When he brought his hand forward again, he brought with it a poke ball that could only belong to Duke.

"Hold!" Luke bellowed to our surprise.

The gym leader moved onto the field and crouched next to his pokemon. The raichu had finally managed to stabilize itself on four legs. Luke scooped the pokemon up in his arms. It gave him a look of relief.

"There's no sense in continuing," he called to David. "Clearly Raichu has had enough. There's no reason to make it suffer. Any attack from any pokemon you have would be more than enough to finish it. I hereby concede the match to you."

The ref stepped forward. "Gym Leader Luke has conceded the match! Victory to the challenger!"

David looked as shocked as I'm sure Dylan and I did. Once the initial shock wore off, I could see that Luke had done the right thing. Raichu barely had enough energy to keep conscious. It would've just been cruel to make it try to battle and like Luke had said earlier, a win is a win. Dylan and I moved to the center of the field where David and Luke met to talk.

"I didn't really want to use self destruct," David was saying. "I figured if I did, at least Steve got to go out on our terms at least."

Luke laid a hand on David's shoulder. "Self destruct is a hard move to use. It often affects the trainer as much as the pokemon. Seeing how it has affected you here today lets me see that you understand this and will not use it lightly."

The gym leader left us to go heal his pokemon and get Vanessa. Dylan and I took turns congratulating David and he us. We took turns describing our battles to him. I made sure to leave out the evolution of Treecko into Grovyle though. I wanted that to be a surprise for later.

"I got to hand it to you Tim," David grinned. "You nailed it with this speed attack idea. I'm not sure how else we would've beaten Luke."

I shook my head. "Me neither. Not without a whole lot of training. Who knows how long that would've taken…"

Luke could be heard near the door and Dylan turned to me. "Hey… Luke didn't give David the same talk he gave us."

My eyes darted around in case I had missed something. "So?"

"Can we talk now? Or does he have something else up his sleeve now?"

I sucked my lips into my mouth. That hadn't occurred to me at all. Tired of seeing our speed-based tactics, Luke could be flipping the board on Vanessa. Not willing to risk anything, Dylan and I agreed to remain silent and impassive. David hadn't been told anything by anyone so we couldn't be blamed for that.

As Vanessa and Luke took their boxes, the ref stepped up. "This will be a one-on-one battle between Gym Leader Luke and the challenger Vanessa!"

Cocking my head, I listened to the rest of the ref's speech. Nothing was different besides that it was one-on-one now. Luke appeared to be giving Vanessa an exact rematch from before.

Luke then grinned, as if he were reading my mind. "I hope you're ready young lady. I've already faced your friends and know your game plan. That was their test and now you will have your own, with your friends barred from helping. Magneton, let's go!"

The three of us that had already battled inhaled sharply. We had never seen anything like what floated on the field now. Three silver balls, each with a single eye, were connected to each other in a pyramid shape. Two screws were below each eye with one sticking out of the top ball. Two u-shaped magnets stuck out of each ball to complete the very unusual pokemon.

Vanessa clenched her jaw and balled her fists. The strategy she had devised for dealing with Luke's raichu was thrown completely out the window. Dylan and I could use our pokedexes to find out that it was a steel- and electric-type but she had nothing to go on other than that she was at the electric gym. With that in mind, she went with the only real option she had.

"Cubone, let's do it!"

The ground-typed pokemon stared up at the floating magneton. Vanessa's cubone was still young. I expected it to show more fear than it did. This was the first high pressure battle that it had been in. Dylan was quickly filling David in on why we couldn't and wouldn't be giving Vanessa advice. He suggested that David do the same, just in case. A snarl formed on David's face.

"Oh he is not happy," Dylan said as he slipped back by me.

I didn't reply for a moment, watching the battle start. "I can't blame him. I think I get what Luke is trying to accomplish but I still can't blame David. I'd be pissed off too."

"Cubone, use bonemerang!" Vanessa yelled.

The small brown pokemon cocked it's arm back and then hurled the bone it carried. The bone became a whirling white blur as it cut through the air. It smashed into Magneton, throwing it back. The bone continued to spin but the impact sent it back toward Cubone. Cubone simply stuck a hand up and caught the bone right where the pokemon always held it.

"Bone," it said.

Dylan raised an eyebrow. "When did Cubone learn that?"

David hesitated for a moment and then answered. "It learned it during our ban from the gym. Vanessa worked with it some just in case."

Luke had a few tricks up his sleeve as well. "Magneton, sonic boom!"

The triangular pokemon flexed it's center in and then forced it back out. A ripple shot through the air. The ripple slammed into Cubone and knocked it back several feet. Cubone rolled through and came up back on it's feet.

"Now Magneton, tri attack!"

White energy crackled out of Magneton's magnets, towards the center of it's body. The arcs of energy fused together to form a white triangle that hovered in front of the steel pokemon. The magnets ceased their output and the triangle blasted away. It smashed into Cubone, picking it up off the ground. The energy triangle was almost as big as the ground pokemon it carried. They slammed into the fence where the triangle finally detonated in a fairly big explosion.

I exhaled a deep breath. "Holy crap. That was quite the attack! I was starting to think Vanessa might have it easy here."

The smoke cleared to reveal Cubone slumped against the fence. It's closed eyes snapped back open. Using it's bone to aid itself, the ground pokemon slowly climbed back up to it's feet.

"That was a good combo," Dylan said as he tapped a finger on his jaw. "I'm not sure how powerful that first attack was but it set up that tri attack nicely. Cubone's a fairly young pokemon still. I'm curious how much it actually has left."

Vanessa had to be thinking the same thing and called for the kill shot. "Bonemerang!"

Cubone hurled it's bone. With both of Magneton's types being weak against ground, this had a chance to end it.

"Dodge it Magneton!"

Like it was caught by a stiff breeze, Magneton jolted to it's left. The bonemerang spun right past it but began to arc back around for it's return to Cubone. Vanessa's pokemon, however, began to race towards it. Jumping into the air, it met the bone much sooner than it should have.

"Bone club!" Vanessa shouted.

Using it's falling momentum, Cubone twisted in midair. It swung it's bone down with all it's might as it came down on top of Magneton. The steel pokemon was crushed down to the ground. A quickly fired sonic boom threw Cubone back before it could attack again.

"Tri attack!" Luke yelled.

"One more bonemerang!"

Cubone dove out of the way of the white triangle. The very corner of it caught the ground pokemon's foot. It hurled it's bone as the triangle exploded. Cubone's throw was on the mark, striking the top orb of the magneton. The two pokemon were thrown to the ground.

Neither moved.

The ref was on top of it. "Sudden death. Whichever pokemon rises by the time I count to ten will be the winner! If both rise, the battle continues! If neither rise, the battle is a draw!"

The ref began his count.

From the sidelines, we clenched our fists. We tried to mentally will Cubone up to it's feet. As the ref reached four, both pokemon stirred. Both began to make their way up. Magneton righted itself first but I noticed it wasn't floating, merely balancing on the ground. Cubone was bracing itself on all fours.

"Come on Cubone!" Vanessa shrieked. "I know you can do it!"

A strange sound cut through the air, almost like a mechanical grunt. My eyes focused on Magneton just in time to see it topple over. It didn't look like it was going to be getting up again.

"Eight!" the ref boomed.

With a shove, Cubone was up on two legs but barely. It staggered around. It looked like it was about to share Magneton's fate.

"Nine!"

"Bone bone bone bone… CU-Bone!" the pokemon screamed as it found it's balance. It thrust it's hands into the air as the ref called the fight.

"Cubone is up and therefore the winner!" the ref waved his hand towards Vanessa. "Victory to Cubone and the challenger!"

"Yes!" Vanessa cried. "I love you Cubone!"

The ground pokemon ran over to her and she scooped it up in her arms. The two of them celebrated together as me and the others breathed a sigh of relief. It would've been horrible if Vanessa hadn't won after the rest of us had. Being happy for ourselves would've been hard when one of us would've been so unhappy.

"I've got to give it to you, you guys improved a lot," Luke said after collecting his pokemon. "I wasn't sure about you the first time we battled but you all really showed me something here. More importantly, you all did it on your own."

Vanessa joined our group. "I'm guessing you guys won too."

Dylan nodded. "Yup, all three of us. Tim's speed idea worked out well for all of us. Luke prevented us from telling each other though. Not that it really mattered for you."

"It was good work all around," Luke broke in. "You three used the speed attack to perfection while this young lady here battled the unknown superbly. I like bringing out Magneton from time to time because most people aren't familiar with it and it's abilities. Makes things fun."

"I think I disagree with that but ok," Vanessa snorted.

Luke just laughed and waved for us to follow him. He lead us down a second door that I hadn't noticed until just then. It stood on the same wall as the door that we had taken to get up to the roof. Behind it were a set of stairs that took us to what looked like an office. A row of poke balls lined one wall while another was decorated of photos of Luke and various people and pokemon.

The gym leader spun around to face us. "Well congratulations you guys, you did it. All four of you have defeated me, abided by my post-match rules and therefore have earned yourselves the Thunder Badge."

He held out a small, felt-lined box. Inside were four badges. They were shaped like an eight-pointed gold star with an orange octagon in the center. We each took one and tucked it away safely. Luke then moved us over a few feet to a card scanner where we could scan our trainer IDs to get a digital record of our win and a deposit into our trainer accounts. We each scanned our ID and got a confirmed light.

"So where are you guys off to next?" Luke asked us. "You came from Michigan right? So I'm assuming you've already got Boulder Badges."

"Yes sir," I replied with a nod. "We haven't decided for certain but we were talking about heading to Trenton to face the poison gym."

There was a twinkle in Luke's eyes that I didn't really care for. "That should be a good match up for you. Make sure you're prepared. The gym leader there is very skilled."

"So are we." Dylan puffed out his chest in a display of confidence.

Luke didn't say anything and shook his head slowly. We shook his hand and then headed out, letting him ready himself for his next challengers. From the crowd that had formed in the waiting room, he had quite a few waiting for him.


	21. Chapter 21

With a newfound spring in our step we made our way out of the building. The world seemed like a much brighter place now that we had defeated Luke. We took our time getting back to the pokemon center, taking in the sites of the city. When we did get back to the pokemon center, I looked around for the nurse that had given me the tip about Luke's raichu but she wasn't working.

"So where are we off to now?" Vanessa asked once our pokemon had been healed. "Are we still going to see Dani?"

David looked at us. "If that's still ok with you guys. She's got a big patch of land, almost like a farm. There'd be enough room for us all. There's also a field that would make a nice battle area."

I snapped my fingers and point upwards. "Sold."

David stayed inside the center to make a phone call while the rest of us headed outside. The city still loomed above us despite not being in it's heart. There was a fairly constant flow of trainers going in and out of the center. Most of them on their way in did not have especially happy expressions on their faces. I could sympathize with them.

"Ok, we're good to go," David said as he emerged from the center. "She's expecting us. I figure it should take us most of the day to get there if we walk. Pretty sure I know how to get there but I got her address for the GPS just in case."

Punching in the address David gave him, Dylan frowned at the screen of his GPS for a moment. He tapped two buttons. After a pause, he nodded his head. "It won't be that bad."

I raised an eyebrow. "How long then?"

Dylan shrugged. "Well that depends. On a straight shot, it's still a couple of hours. I was thinking that as long as we're in Chicago, we might as well enjoy it. See a few sights. You know, just wander around like tourists for a few hours."

"There are some pretty awesome malls here…" Vanessa said slowly, a grin forming across her face.

"No. You're not going on a shopping spree. We can't carry the load," David said flatly. "But yeah, let's wander around for a bit."

Vanessa's assessment of the malls were indeed correct. We found a five-story tall mall just chock full of stores and stuff that we shouldn't buy.

That is, until we stumbled across a wing of pokemon trainer stores.

There was probably a half dozen of them, all geared towards different aspects of pokemon training. One of the smaller stores was strictly a TM store. Another store carried nothing but different types of poke balls, more than I even knew existed. Probably the largest store there was trainer apparel. The second largest was full of items to use on pokemon for something called contests or contest battles. I tried to get one of the workers to explain but it made no sense to me.

"I like this place," Vanessa said, grinning like a kid in a candy store.

The rest of us couldn't ignore the pull of the stores as well. I made sure to visit each one except for the contest battle one. That one still confused me. Eventually I found myself in the TM store with Dylan and David, thumbing through the thousands of technical machines available for sale.

"There's actually some good ones here," Dylan murmured. "Sadly, most of them are way out of our price range."

I looked over at the pile he was going through. "What'd you find?"

He held up two. "Hyper beam and fire blast. Both really good. Both absurdly expensive."

"Yeah, going to have to pass on those," I said, making a face. "Maybe we can come back here in a couple months or something."

"You know, not all the good TM's are really expensive," David called to us from a few yards away. "Check some of these out. They were sold back by trainers who didn't want them so they're discounted. Obviously not used since they break when you use them."

I caught the two that David tossed me. Flipping the two small discs over in my hands, I raised them up to my eyes. The brownish-orange one had 'Focus Blast' etched into it's surface. The word 'Reflect' was etched onto the pink disc. Reflect was familiar to me but I didn't know focus blast. Digging out my pokedex, I looked it up. It turned out to be a fighting-type move.

"You going to get anything?" Dylan asked. He had at least one in his hand.

Casting aside the reflect TM, I stared at the focus blast one. I had no idea what pokemon I was going to use it on, but I was drawn to it for some reason. Maybe it was because the picture with the description looked cool. "Yeah, I'm going to get this one."

We paid for our merchandise and hunted down Vanessa in the apparel shop. It took us a few tries but we were eventually successful at dragging her out. With our shopping excursion out of the way, we got back on track. We had lost almost three hours to the mall, making it mid-afternoon now.

Somehow the pace of the city had picked up even more. The roads were filled with constant bumper-to-bumper traffic and the sidewalks were swallowed up by the roaming people. Our big backpacks made it hard for us to weave through the masses. We often had to wait for a space to open up before we could pass slower moving groups, slowing us down considerably.

Once we began getting closer to the outer edge of the city, things began to thin out a bit. We were able to pick up our pace considerably in an attempt to make up some of the time we had lost. Given that the sun was still up in the sky, I decided that we weren't making too bad of time although it was definitely on it's way down.

Finally buildings and roads gave way to rolling plains: we were outside of Chicago. Dylan fumbled with his GPS and then pointed us in a direction. "About two hours that way."

The next two hours really seemed to drag. At least when we had been in the city, there were things to look at. Outside of the city, all there was were the occasional passing cars on the faraway highway. It was not exactly highly entertaining. We were all getting tired and weren't great conversationalists at the moment.

"There!" David exclaimed, pointing a finger.

Off in the distance, I could see what appeared to be a fairly sizeable, if not old, farm house. Around it were a few smaller buildings maybe half the size of the house. I could also make out the blurs of moving somethings, presumably pokemon, but I couldn't tell exactly what from this distance.

We bounded down the hill, a new spring in our steps. As we got closer I could see that the entire area had a wooden stake fence around it, maybe four feet high. Some of the blurs I had seen from afar began to come into focus. There was a group of small yellow pokemon I recognized as sandshrew. A group of larger grey pokemon that I didn't recognize grazed nearby. Down on all fours, they looked almost like a tire had been cut and laid across their backs. I had no idea what they were.

As we got closer, a girl emerged from the house that didn't look to even be our age yet. She had very long blonde hair and was very thin. When we got even closer I could see her blue eyes that sparkled with mischief. She was also very short. I was 6'1 and I wasn't sure the top of her head even reached my shoulders. Following her was a small pokemon.

The pokemon was a light blue although it's beak and feet were yellow. A patch of white also adorned it's face. There were two white spots on it's chest, almost like buttons. It actually kind of looked like it was wearing a snow suit.

David moved to the front of our group and embraced the girl. After a hug, they exchanged a few private words. David swung around, keeping his arm looped around her shoulders. He waved a hand out to encompass us all. "Guys, this is my cousin Dani."

After she and Vanessa hugged, I stepped up and offered my hand. "Hey there, I'm Tim. Nice to meet you."

She shook it. "You're awfully tall."

My eyes shot side to side, not really sure what to say to that.

"It's ok. I'll still let you in," she said with a smile.

Dylan introduced himself as well. While they were getting acquainted, I pulled out my pokedex and pointed it at the little pokemon. It was identified as a piplup, a rather uncommon water-type pokemon. Apparently being a breeder had some perks.

Dani ushered us inside and into the living room. It was sparsely decorated and most of it seemed to be amateur art but there were plenty of seats for all of us. Being the good host, she offered us drinks and snacks. We had failed to eat so we were more than happy to eat what she offered.

"So what do you guys think of the place?" she asked as she took a seat herself. "I know I didn't give you a tour but you could see it pretty well coming down that hill."

Dylan looked at me. I shrugged. "It's pretty nice."

Dani looked crestfallen.

"Well don't get my wrong," I backtracked, holding up my hands. "This is a pretty nice place. We've just been spoiled when it comes to pokemon ranches like this."

Dani's look changed from crestfallen to skeptical.

"Well we've been to one of Professor Oak's ranches. Not a whole lot can compare to one of those."

"It's true." David vouched for us. "They do know Professor Oak. He even called Tim the other day."

Dani's jaw dropped. "Seriously? You know THE Professor Oak?"

Dylan nodded. "Yeah. He's a friend of Tim's dad. He gave us a tour of his place in Michigan and then gave us both pokedexes and a pokemon."

"That is so cool!" she exclaimed. "Do you think you could introduce us somehow?"

"Um, well, I don't know," I hesitated. "We're not exactly tight. I think he mostly did it as a favor to my dad. Why do you want to meet him?"

Dani waved a hand about. "I'm a breeder. My livelihood is determined by my usefulness and my reputation. Being able to say that Professor Oak commissioned me to breed some pokemon for me would be huge!"

I glanced at Dylan and then shrugged. "Well sure. I can see what I can do. I mean it can't do any harm."

She winked at me. "Exactly."

"So what kind of pokemon are you breeding right now?" Vanessa asked, changing the subject. "I saw some sandshrew out there and some other pokemon I didn't know. Is that all?"

"Were they big and gray?" Dani looked at Vanessa and got a nod. "Oh, that's my donphan. Those are what I'm know for around the mid-west. You'd have to go up the Rocky Mountains to get them otherwise. There's a few various other pokemon floating around here too. I've got a small flock of mareep and some pichu. There's also some wooper and psyduck that live in the pond."

"That's quite a collection," Dylan said. "Did you breed those pokemon specifically or are they commissioned or something?"

"A little of both," the breeder replied with a shrug. "The pichu were commissioned and it produced more eggs than I thought so I just kept going."

"Is breeding hard?" I asked.

Dani nodded. "Some pokemon aren't able to breed with others. That makes things complicated when someone wants something bred and I don't have a pokemon that can breed with it. I've lost a few jobs that way."

With our curiosities about breeding satisfied, Dani began asking about us as trainers. Slowly that degraded into just normal chitchat. I liked Dani, she seemed like a good kid although a bit eccentric. She fit in nicely with the rest of us.

Eventually the day's travels caught up with us so our host showed us to our rooms. Dylan and I shared a room and David and Vanessa shared another on the third floor. Dani told us where anything we might need was, bid us goodnight and retired to her room on the second floor.

"Question for you," I said to David as I passed him on my way to the bathroom.

"Shoot."

"Where are Dani's parents?"

He chuckled. "She doesn't live with them. She's emancipated or something like that. I think it was pretty hard for her to pull it off since she's only sixteen but she's clearly doing pretty well for herself."

I laughed. "Yeah. Clearly."

When I got back to the room, Dylan had already nestled into one of the beds. I flopped down on the other. With a deep sigh, I relished having a real bed and not a crappy bunk for once.

"This sure beats the pokemon centers," Dylan said as if reading my mind.

I tried to think of something funny to say back but was asleep before I came up with anything.

With no travel planned for the next day, I slept much later than I had in quite a while. It was barely still considered morning by the time I rolled out of bed. After I got out of the shower, it was definitely afternoon. I felt a little guilty until I saw Vanessa emerge from her room on my way downstairs.

Dylan, David and Dani were all sitting around the kitchen table. Someone had apparently been telling a funny story because they were all laughing about something. I slid a chair out and dropped into it. Snagging a piece of fruit from the bowl on the table, I listened in.

"Yeah but anyway, we totally got away scott-free," Dylan concluded his story. "Needless to say, we haven't been back."

I didn't have a clue what he was talking about so I just munched on my pear. The conversation hit a standstill with Dylan's story over. Everyone took a moment to adjust their posture until they were comfortable.

"So what's the game plan for today?" I asked around a mouthful of pear.

"We were just going to hang out today," David said. "It's a nice day out. Just enjoy the weather and not going anywhere. Maybe toss the Frisbee around or something."

"Mrph," I choked down a bit of fruit. "We need to battle today. It's tradition."

Dani looked at me. "What's tradition?"

"We always battle after gym battles," I explained, wiping my mouth. "I don't know if it's actually been declared a tradition yet since we've only done it once so I'm declaring it now."

"Witnessed," Dylan said as he got up.

"See?" I nodded at my friend. "It's officially a tradition."

"Do you battle?" Dylan asked Dani.

She shook her head. "I do not. I can but I don't."

"Why not?" I asked as I looked for the trash to throw away my pear core.

"Under the sink." She pointed to it. "I just don't get into battling that much. I don't have that knack for it that some people, presumably you, have. I can though. Sometimes people have me breed pokemon specifically so the newborn will have inherited a certain attack. I always make sure it's learned it before I let the trainer know."

David focused on her. "Attacks are inherited?"

His cousin nodded. "Sure. A donphan doesn't learn fissure naturally. But if you breed it with certain pokemon, the offspring will know fissure. Or if you've taught a move to a pokemon and you breed it with a different pokemon, as long as that other pokemon can learn the same move, the offspring will know it too."

"That's how my heracross know aerial ace," I added. "Heracross native to this part of the world don't learn that move naturally. Mine's bred from one from… I don't actually know. Somewhere foreign."

They all got a good laugh.

"You ever run into issues when you're breeding?" Dylan asked, tipping back in his chair.

"Yeah, definitely," Dani sighed. "Sometimes people want me to breed a pokemon for them but I don't have a pokemon that can breed with it. Not all pokemon can breed with each other. If that happens, I have to try and borrow one that can. I need to somehow get a pokemon that can breed with anything…"

I saw Dylan scrunch his mouth for a moment. He was clearly mulling something over although I wasn't sure what.

"I am so hungry!" Vanessa moaned as she staggered into the kitchen.

David tossed her an apple and Dani filled the toaster with some bread. I leaned back in my chair and stretched my arms out. The warm sun filtering through the windows felt really nice. I was really going to miss it when the season changed.

With Vanessa fed and satisfied, Dani left us alone as she went off to tend to things around her home. At first we tried to settle in in front of the television. We quickly learned that Dani had only the most basic of cable and the only things on were soap operas and talk shows. As fast as we had claimed our couch seats, we vacated them.

I navigated my way outside. With my pokedex in hand, I wandered around the ranch. The donphan were the first thing I saw so I studied up on them. At first I was worried that they might charge me but they turned out to be fairly docile. I wasn't about to try and ride one but I felt safe standing a few feet away.

A group of smaller yellow pokemon wandered past and caught my eye. Most of them walked on two legs although a few of them were down on all fours. Their yellow almost looked scaly except for their soft, white underbellies. Several of them glanced at me with their big black eyes as they moved past. Even though I knew they were sandshrew, I still pulled up their pokemon profile in my pokedex. I found myself following their group as I read.

Dani appeared out of nowhere and fell into step beside me. "Got a thing for the sandshrew, eh?"

I laughed and gave her a shrug. "Sure. I just like them. I think they're cool."

Dani giggled and then headed the other way.

I stopped my following of the sandshrew and looked around to see what else I could find. A trio of elekids moved past but I ignored them. Out in the pastures something caught my eye. There was a flock of maybe a dozen pokemon that looked a lot like walking cotton balls. They stood on four blue legs and had a blue head as well. Two yellow and black striped ears poked out of it's head and matched the color scheme on their tails as well. There was also an orb on the tip of all of their tails.

"Aren't they cute?"

I jumped about a foot. Vanessa stepped up beside me, a huge grin on her face. She folded her arms and continued to watch the flock intently.

"What are they?" I asked.

"Mareep," she answered. "Electric pokemon. You can actually sheer off their wool and make clothes out of it."

Although I was willing to admit they were kind of cute, I was not nearly as taken by them as Vanessa. My attention quickly waned and I wandered off again. A pair of pichu caught my eye as they scampered off to play in the flock of mareep. They chased each other through the legs of the larger electric pokemon. The mareep seemed more or less oblivious to them.

I found myself back at the house. Dylan and David were seated in chairs on the porch, chatting. I hopped up the steps and lowered myself down into a wicker chair. Folding my hands behind my head, I kicked my feet up to rest on the railing of the porch.

"This is a pretty nice place," I said, not to anyone in particular.

Dylan looked over at me. "Yeah. She clearly does alright for herself."

My eyes shifted to the opening front door. "Speak of the devil."

Dani stepped out onto the porch. She put her hands on her hips and looked over the three of us. With a sigh, she shook her head. "Are we just going to sit around all day?"

"I'm ok with that," Dylan smirked.

"I'm not!" I jumped up out of my seat. Planting my feat, I stabbed a finger into David's face. "I challenge you to a pokemon battle!"

A grin spread over his face. "Alright. You're on. Dani, is there a place you wouldn't mind us battling around here?"

The blonde haired girl tapped a fingernail on her lips. "Probably outside the fences would be best. That'd keep any of my pokemon from getting in the way."

"We should go get Vanessa," Dylan said. "I'll battle her next."

"Vanessa!" Dani screamed. "You have to come battle Dylan after Tim and David battle!"

I turned my head away from the noise, wincing. "Or that. That'll work too."

"I do have a pokemon restoration machine," Dani mentioned as she lead us over. "It's an older model so it takes a bit and can only hold three pokemon at a time but it beats nothing."

"Sweet!" David's eyes lit up. "We could battle more than once if we wanted!"

Dylan barked a laugh. "You might want to concentrate on the business at hand before you start planning for later."

"That's right!" I added. "Speaking of that business, how many pokemon do you want to battle?"

David tossed an arm around Vanessa's shoulders as she caught up with us. "I'm thinking three pokemon. That should give us a decent battle."

I nodded my agreement as I took in the field that Dani had lead us to. There was really nothing remarkable about it. No big rocks or notable landmasses or anything that could used for an advantage. Just a big grassy plot of land.

The others leaned up against the fence and I took a long, hard look at David as we paced out a good distance for us to stand. The amount of pokemon he had greatly limited his team, especially since three of his seven had never battled. It was the four that had that worried me. They were all such different types that if I chose my pokemon wrong, the battle would be over before it started.

"Are you ready yet?" David yelled.

"Your face is ready," I mumbled.

I put Grovle in the third slot on my belt. It seemed like a good bet that David would use Vlad and I wanted to have a good counter to his most powerful pokemon. After that, I knew it was pretty hit or miss. I added Mudkip incase he felt it necessary to work with his geodude and then decided to start out with Pikachu. If nothing else, they were pokemon I hadn't used lately.

I gave a nod of preparation.

Dani stepped forward to give the official announcement. "This will be a three-on-three battle. You must defeat all your opponent's pokemon to win. David, the first move is yours!"

He already had a poke ball in his hand. "Let's get this started right! Al!"

I fought to keep a smile from my face. That was the best possible pokemon he could've started out with for me. "Pikachu, let's go!"

"Uh oh." David's face dropped. "That's not good."

"No playing around! Thundershock! End it now!"

Pikachu exploded with lightning. Al was quick, but not quick enough. The flying pokemon caught the electric blast right in the center of it's body. The zubat was quickly engulfed in the super-effective electricity.

"Get out of there Al! Bite!"

Al folded it's wings against it's body and suddenly dropped from the skies. Freed from the thundershock, it swooped low across the grass. I knew it was a desperation attack. Even as strong as Al was, that thundershock done a lot of damage.

I shook my head. "Not happening. Thundershock for the win!"

Pikachu's body arched back. When it flung itself forward, electricity lanced out. With the speed that Al was closing the gap, it didn't have a chance to dodge. The zubat was encompassed by the lightning. It held firm in the air for a moment and then crashed to the ground. A small tendril of smoke curled up into the air.

"Al is unable to battle!" Dani declared. "Pikachu is the winner!"

I allowed myself a smile. It couldn't have gone any better than that for me. Al wasn't the strongest of David's pokemon but it wasn't a pushover either.

David threw another poke ball out. "Let's even this up Duke!"

My smile wavered a bit. I had been hoping that he would use his geodude so I could switch out to Mudkip. None of my pokemon held any kind of advantage over his mankey. Grovyle most likely had the power to go toe to toe with Duke but I needed to save it since David most likely had his squirtle as his third pokemon.

"Ok Pikachu!" I called. "Third time's the charm! Thundershock!"

"Ka-chu!" Pikachu blasted Duke. The mankey braced itself and took the attack. Closing it's eyes, it clenched it's muscles. With a scream, Duke threw out it's arms and somehow dissipated the aura of lightning that surrounded it. Pikachu stopped pulsing lighting as it's jaw dropped.

I let out a little groan. "Oh that is not good…"

Duke looked more pissed off than hurt. It started jumping up and down in anger.

"Scratch!"

The mankey ran forward, arms pulled back. One single swing was enough to knock my pikachu back. A second scratch attack sent it spinning down to the ground.

"Hang in there Pikachu!" My mind raced. "Quick attack!"

"Fury swipes!" David countered.

Duke began swinging wildly at Pikachu. Quick attack had given Pikachu enough of a speed boost that it was able to dodge the flurry of blows. It was almost like watching an action movie.

Duck. Dodge left. Dodge right. Jump. Duck. Jump. Dodge right.

Then I saw an opening. "Iron tail!"

The electric pokemon's tail glowed a brilliant white as it swung it around as it was dodging a swipe. Duke was on the ball though and moved to avoid. The fighting pokemon wasn't quite fast enough. Part of the steel attack clipped the side of it's head and knocked it back a few steps.

Things were getting interesting now. David's pokemon was almost as fast as mine. It was clearly stronger and had better defense. Pretty much everything was going his way. I had to try and be smart if I wanted to pull this out.

"Double team!"

Suddenly Duke was surrounded by a ring of pikachu. The mankey let out a yip as it darted around trying to locate the real pokemon. It swiped at a Pikachu. The pokemon image fizzled out and then was replaced by another.

It was time to utilize the moment of confusion I had created. "Thundershock!"

All of the pikachu erupted with electricity. It was impossible to tell which one was real but the real one struck Duke. The fighting pokemon seemed a little more jarred by the attack than last time. The real Pikachu had to be somewhere at it's back.

"Screech!"

This was not the counter I had expected. I was figuring David would just start attacking random images.

Duke took a deep breath and then let out a bloodcurdling sound. I covered my ears. The screech didn't last long but lasted long enough to generate a disruption in the air. The ripple pulsed out from Duke and was all it took to vanquish all the images Pikachu had created. Pikachu wavered slightly from the ripple.

"Karate chop!"

In the blink of an eye, Duke was looming over Pikachu. It arched an arm back and brought down the flattened palm. Duke caught my pokemon right in the center of the head. The force of the attack was enough to drive Pikachu's head forward and smash it into the ground. Neither pokemon moved, Duke still touching Pikachu.

I shuddered. That was a brutal hit. I didn't even bother listen to Dani as she declared my pokemon unable to battle. Recalling Pikachu, I didn't even hesitate with my next pokemon. "Mudkip, let's clean this up!"

It was good to see the little blue water pokemon again. I hadn't battled with it since the first gym battle. Hopefully the extended time off wouldn't come back to bite me.

David hesitated, considering his options. "Go get it Duke! Scratch!"

"Show them what's up Mudkip!" I called. "Tackle!"

The two pokemon charged. Mudkip was able to duck under Duke's scratch and launched itself. The mankey staggered back and then lunged forward. This time the scratch attack connected.

I pointed at Duke. "Get some space between you! Water gun!"

At their close proximity, Duke never had a chance to dodge. The water gun hit the fighting pokemon square in the face and shoved it back a handful of yards. It's legs quivered for a moment, the first indication that I had actually done some damage. I had to move fast to capitalize.

"Rapid fire water gun!" I yelled.

Mudkip began firing it's water gun in short, rapid, controlled bursts like it had when we battled Steven's onix. I could only hope the water bullets would work as well as they had last time.

David gritted his teeth as a few blasts grazed Duke. "Fury swipes!"

Duke began swinging wildly. At first I thought it was a useless gesture. Then each blow connected with a water gun bullet and completely neutralized it. When Mudkip finally stopped firing, Duke was far more wet than injured.

"You have got to be kidding me!" I griped. "All we've done is give Duke a bath!"

My pokemon pawed at the muddy ground as the two pokemon faced off. David stood across the field from me looking confident. His strategy of countering everything I threw at him was getting on my nerves. It was like he could see everything coming…

That gave me an idea.

"Mud-slap!"

Digging a paw into the ground, Mudkip heaved a glob of mud at Duke. The mud ball splashed in the face of the mankey, covering it's eyes. The fighting pokemon screeched and began wiping at it's blinded eyes. The window of opportunity had been reopened.

I pointed at Duke. "Here we go Mudkip! Tackle attack and give it everything you've got!"

Even though the ground was wet and muddy at this point, my pokemon ran across it like it was dry. The water pokemon quickly closed the distance between the two opponents and launched itself. Mudkip slammed into Duke, it's head smashing into the fighting pokemon's nose.

"Duke! No!"

The mankey was thrown backwards. Unable to see the attack coming, it was completely defenseless. Duke bounced once on it's back and then ended up on it's stomach. I knew David's pokemon wasn't out of the battle yet but at least it was slow to get up.

The momentum had shifted my way.

"Finish it off! One more tackle Mudkip!"

Mudkip raced in at Duke. Suddenly two white spots appeared in the mud covering Duke's face. It took me half a second to realize that they were eyes.

Duke could see again.

"Karate chop!" David shouted.

As Mudkip threw itself at Duke, the mankey swung it's arm down. Duke was forced back a step. The karate chop drove Mudkip straight down, much like it had Pikachu. Advancing a few steps, Duke loomed over my pokemon.

We weren't done yet though. "Water gun!"

The water pokemon rolled itself over. Before Duke could strike or escape, Mudkip unleashed a torrent of water. Duke took the pillar of water like a straight uppercut, throwing it high into the air and back several yards. It crashed to the ground only a few feet in front of David.

I examined my pokemon as the two battlers slowly climbed to their feet. The water pokemon was clearly exhausted. That last karate chop had taken a lot out of it. I figured it could absorb just maybe one more attack before things were over. That's if I was lucky.

Duke began it's charge the second it got to it's feet. Both the pokemon and it's trainer knew that neither pokemon had much left in the tank. The next attack would most likely decide the winner of the round.

That's when luck kicked in.

Mudkip's water attacks hadn't done a whole lot of damage throughout the battle but they had accomplished one thing: the field was soaked. Duke took an awkward step and stumbled.

I had one shot. "Water gun full blast!"

Mudkip reared back on it's hind legs and let loose. The water blast speared the unbalanced mankey right in the face. It drove the fighting pokemon back, crushing it into the ground. I heard a gasp from the sideline. Mudkip sneered as we remained motionless.

"Duke is unable to battle!" Dani finally announced. "Mudkip is the winner!"

I let out a huge sigh of relief. Mudkip was wavering where it stood. It clearly had no gas left in the tank. We had finished that round just in time.

David gave a sad shake of his head. "You got lucky there. If Duke hadn't slipped, things would've ended differently."

All I had for him was an indifferent shrug.

"But now we're going to end things right! Vlad, you're up!"

As soon as the squirtle was on the field, I had a poke ball in my hand. "Mudkip, return!"

There was a stunned silence. This was the first time any of us had actually switched out a pokemon in one of our battles against each other. Normally we battled straight through. I planned to make this occasion a memorable one.

Putting Mudkip back on my belt, I grabbed Grovyle's ball. I held it up high for all to see. In my mind it looked really cool.

"Cometh… The Destroyer!"

"Wait, wait, wait!" David waved his hands, stopping me mid-throw. He put up a T with his hands. "Time out."

I gave him a wide-eyed look. "Um, what?"

"You don't give your pokemon nicknames," he stated.

"Um, right," I replied, unsure of where he was going.

"But you give them goofy titles."

"Wait, what?"

"The Destroyer? Come on. That's lame."

I frowned. "No way. It's not lame."

David rolled his eyes and held out his palms. "Sure. You think what you want."

I flashed him an evil smile. "We'll see what you say after you meet the Destroyer. Come forth, Destroyer!"

There was a collective gasp as Grovyle formed on the field. Clearly my secret had not leaked out. Now to show why Grovyle was "The Destroyer".

"Grovyle, bullet seed!" The grass pokemon dropped it's jaw and a hail of glowing seeds blasted out. Treecko had fired seeds in a single filed line. Grovyle blasted them out at least five at a time.

Vlad scrambled back as the seeds exploded all around it. It lost it's balance and toppled backwards. It tried to continue it's scramble on it's back, shoving with it's legs. The squirtle couldn't outrun the hail of seeds. They began pelting the water pokemon.

It was time to end it. "Grovyle, leaf blade!"

With blazing speed, Grovyle took off. The trio of leaves on it's right arm began to glow a bright, neon green. The expanded and fused together to form a glowing green sickle-like blade.

Bursting through the seed explosions, Vlad never saw it coming. With a right hook-like motion, Grovyle slashed the grass-energy blade across Vlad. The squirtle screamed as it was violently thrown back. The water pokemon crashed to the ground, face down. Grovyle's evolution had given it far more power than Vlad was ready to handle without evolving.

After a lengthy, shocked pause Dani stepped forward. "Vlad is unable to battle. Victory to Grovyle and Tim!"

On the sidelines, Dylan shuttered. "That was a brutal hit. Definitely a critical hit."

David had a scowl on his face as he collected Vlad and moved off to the side of the field. I removed Grovyle and walked over to him. "Nice match."

He didn't look at me. "You don't have to say it."

"Say what?" I was confused.

"You were going to say that Grovyle got a critical hit with leaf blade and that's why you won." David crossed his arms over his chest. "You want to be a nice guy. I get it but you don't have to make excuses every time you win. You just plain overpowered Vlad with super-effective moves."

Dylan and Vanessa had already started their battle by the time I responded to David. "I didn't realize that it was that annoying."

David sniffed a laugh. "It's not so much annoying as it is unnecessary. I'm not going to stop being your friend because I lost a battle to you. I'm not that shallow."

I chuckled as I watched Dylan's bulbasaur chase after Vanessa's rattata, trying to smack it with vine whip. "Well in the future I guess I'll have to be more of an arrogant asshole when I win."

David laughed and clapped me on the shoulder. "You don't have to go that far," he said with a shake of his head. "Just don't make excuses for being the better trainer."

I smiled but didn't say anything more. When I thought about it, he did have a point: only someone super shallow would end a friendship over a lost match. Apparently I needed to have more faith in my friends.

Before I could give the topic any more thought, my pocket began to buzz. I jammed my hand in and came out with my ringing cell phone. Answering it, I put it up to my ear. "Hello?"

"Tim! How are you today? I have good news for you!"

It took me a moment to place the voice. "I'm doing good Professor Oak. How about you?"

"Oh, I'm fine," he said casually as if it mattered for nothing. "I have some good news for both you and Dylan actually."

"Me and Dylan?" I repeated. "He's actually in the middle of a battle so I can pass along the news if you want. Well, or I guess you could wait but I don't know how long it'll be."

Oak laughed. "I wish all young people were as polite as you. It's nothing earth shattering, so you can just pass it along for me."

"Sure thing. What is it?"

"Some of your pokemon evolved."

I blinked a few times as I digested that information. He couldn't have known about Grovyle and none of Dylan's had evolved yet. "Um, I'm afraid I don't understand…"

There was a pause on Oak's end and then another cheerful laugh. "Pokemon don't only evolve through battle. Sometimes it's just a natural thing or you can use an item."

I was really lost now. "You can evolve them with an item? You mean like an elemental rock?"

"Kind of, but not really. There are things that you can put inside a pokemon's poke ball and the energy from it will transform the pokemon the next time it's released. Like if you put a metal coat inside the poke ball of an onix, it will evolve into a steelix."

"Seriously? That's crazy!" I exclaimed. "But we didn't do anything like that did we? I don't remember putting anything in a poke ball I sent you."

"Oh no, this was the natural evolution," Oak assured me. "Your metapod hatched into a butterfree and Dylan's wurmple evolved into a cascoon."

"That's fantastic!"

"I just wanted to let you two know in case you wanted to try out your butterfree, or if Dylan wanted to try out his cascoon once it evolves again."

I thanked the professor and we hung up. I gave my head a small shake. There was still so much about the pokemon world that I was completely clueless about. Hanging up the phone, I noticed that the battle had ceased. Vanessa and Dylan were in the middle of the field in deep discussion. Bulbasaur stood next to Dylan but Vanessa had no pokemon with her.

"What's going on?" I asked David.

He shrugged. "Not sure. Dylan beat Vanessa's rattata but he yelled something to her before she could send out another pokemon. Then they just started talking."

"Interesting," I said and started walking out towards them. After a moment of hesitation, David and Dani followed.

"Well do you think it's possible?" Dylan was asking, looking down at Bulbasaur.

"I don't know." Vanessa shook her head. "You'd have to produce an insane amount of leaves for that."

"For what?" I interrupted.

"Dylan wants to try blocking a fire attack with razor leaf," Vanessa informed us. "I don't think it's possible."

"I think it's at least plausible," Dylan countered.

David scratched at his beard. "In theory, sure. I'm not sure about in practice though."

"Tim, you're the final vote." Dylan looked at me expectantly. "If you think it's at least plausible, I get to try. I've already agreed to concede the battle if I get to try."

I didn't really have a choice but to side with my best friend. "I don't see why not. Might as well try it now when it doesn't really matter. We can all learn from it."

Vanessa produced a poke ball. "Ok but it's your funeral."

David, Dani and I stepped back as Vanessa's charmander emerged from the poke ball. Dylan and his bulbasaur stood together, looking determined. The grass pokemon pawed at the ground.

Dani looked up at me as we waited. "Do you really think this is a good idea?"

I laughed. "No. Well… not right now. If Bulbasaur evolves, then maybe. Right now though I don't think it can generate enough leaves to stop a strong fire attack. Ember, maybe. Flamethrower? No."

"Then why did you agree it was a good idea?"

"I wanted to see what happened," I said honestly. "I know how to block fire attacks with a few other types. If razor leaf could stop it, then there's a good chance maybe Grovyle's bullet seed could too. Since it's Dylan trying it out, I've really got nothing to lose."

David crossed his arms, not taking his eyes off the field. "That's pretty shrewd."

"Yeah, I like to think so."

"Ready?" Vanessa yelled.

Dylan balled his hands into fists. "Do it!"

"Flamethrower!" Charmander pulled it's head back and let loose the river of fire.

"Razor leaf!" Bulbasaur reared back and then a tornado of leaves erupted from around it's bulb.

We all held our breath as the two attacks met at about the halfway point of the battlefield. For a brief second, they held each other at bay. Then the fire began to overtake the rush of leaves. It was noticeably slower than usual, although not by much.

"Dodge it!" Dylan yelled and Bulbasaur cancelled it's attack, rolling out of harm's way.

"So much for that idea," Vanessa sniffed. "That didn't work at all."

Dylan returned Bulbasaur to it's ball. "Not really, no. I think if Bulbasaur had evolved further it may have. It would've been a much more powerful attack."

"Your grovyle doesn't know razor leaf, does it?" Dani asked. "You could try it."

"Grovyle doesn't know it," I said. "It knows three grass-type moves and you saw two of them in battle."

"While it might've held it for a second, it seems that just flat out dodging is a much better idea," David interrupted as everyone regrouped.

Dylan sighed. "Yeah, probably but you can't always dodge. What if you were backed into a corner? There's no dodging then."

"Unlikely but possible." I gave Dylan a tilt of my head. "Any one else have any ideas they want to try out?"

As the day turned into night, we occasionally returned to the field to try out another idea. Nothing we tried really seemed to work at all. David had minimal success using rock throw to subdue a flamethrower but we deemed it pointless because fire wasn't effective against rock pokemon anyway.

The most exciting part of the night was when Dani revealed that she had a washer and dryer. We crammed all our dirty clothes in at once. Other then when a pokemon center nurse had washed our muddied clothes before we reached Chicago, we had yet to clean any of our clothes. We had grown used to it but I had to image that our clothes didn't exactly smell spring-fresh.

With clothes cleaned and a busy day ahead of us, we decided to get some sleep. Retreating to our bedrooms, we laid down to rest in the warm summer night.

I awoke with a start a few hours later. I glanced around to see if I could figure out what woke me. Dylan was snoring softly in the other bed, arm draped over his eyes. Neither of our phones were blinking with incoming calls or messages.

Rolling my eyes, I rolled out of bed. I was completely awake now. I pulled off my shorts and replaced them with my jeans. Grabbing my glasses, I snuck out of the room. The house was mostly dark now with just a few lights strategically left on so we could see if we got up. Tiptoeing down the stairs, I slid my shoes on and headed out the door.

The cool night air felt wonderful as I trudged through the grass. I found myself at the wooden fence that lined the yard to keep the pokemon corralled. Placing my arms across it's top, I leaned on it as I gazed up into the clear sky. The darkness seemed to swallow me up as I became lost in my own thoughts.

"Penny for your thoughts there, Cowboy."

I nearly jumped out of my skin. Dani emerged from the dark to lean on the fence next to me. It took a few deep breaths to get my heart back to normal speeds. "What're you doing up and out here?"

She clucked her tongue. "I asked your first."

I laughed. "Just thinking."

"About…?" she prompted.

I shrugged. "You know, the usual. Life. Pokemon. Girls."

Dani looked me over for a moment. "You left a girl back home, I take it?"

Dipping my head, I gave her a small salute. "You nailed it. Well, kind of. We never really committed to anything with me about to leave for at least several months. I just kind of wonder from time to time if she's actually going to wait for me."

"Yeah, well, if you had committed, you'd just be wondering if she's being faithful," my host suggested. "Basically you're kind of in a no-win situation. You've just got to hold on to hope."

"It's about all I can do," I agreed. "I think it'll work out in the end. Things seem to be doing that for me lately."

Dani laughed. "Yeah it's kind of sounded like that. David told me how you and Dylan won a tournament within a week of becoming trainers."

"Technically it was two tournaments," I corrected her. "We won a doubles tournament as well."

She waved a hand. "I stand corrected."

I was about to say something out when a loud cracking noise punctured the night. Dani and I whipped our heads around, searching for the source of the sound. At first I didn't see anything but a movement down the fence caught my eye. About fifty yards down the fence I could see motion in the dark.

"What the hell is that?" I pointed down the fence.

Dani squinted into the night. "My donphan! Someone's stealing my donphan!"

My hand immediately dropped to my belt and came up empty. My head dropped down and my eyes locked onto my belt. All but one of my poke balls had fallen out of my belt holster. I touched the poke ball and instantly knew what pokemon resided inside.

I grabbed Dani by the arm. "Go wake everyone up. Find the rest of my pokemon. I think they're on the floor of my room. I'll go stall the thieves."

Dani froze. "But… I…"

"Go!"

After giving her a shove towards the house, I took off running towards the in-progress pokemon heist. I grabbed the poke ball off my belt and enlarged it to it's normal size. The ball was just slightly warmer than a normal poke ball and I had to hope my gut was right when it told me that Charmander was inside.

I skidded to a stop next to the hole in the fence. "Hey!"

The movements in the night stopped. "Get lost kid," said a voice in the dark.

I shook my head but realized it was an un-seeable. "No dice. These pokemon aren't going anywhere."

The next response was the one I was expecting: the sound of opening poke balls. Two more shadows joined us in the dark. I joined in by throwing my pokemon into the fray. The night was suddenly brightened along with my hopes as Charmander's tail flames burst into existence. What I saw next dimmed my hopes again.

A piloswine and a houndoom.

"Oh holy shit, no way!" I shouted. "It's you!"

Four familiar faces suddenly zoomed in on me. It was the four guys that had challenged us to the four-on-four battle before we got to Chicago and tried to attack us afterwards. Hate just radiated out of their eyes.


	22. Chapter 22

"I remember you," one of them said. "You were part of that group that actually beat us. Let's see if we can even the score…"

I motioned for him to come on. "Bring it on. I'll crush you. There's no pokemon I'd rather have fighting for me than Charmander."

A retort was cut off by a sudden bright light. I shielded my eyes and looked around, assuming backup had come. It took me a moment to realize that the light was coming from my pokemon.

Coated in white light, Charmander began to grow. As it grew taller it's arms grew longer and it's claws became clearly visible. It's snout narrowed and razor sharp teeth filled in as a small horn protruded out from the back of it's skull. As the evolutionary light faded, the fire from my pokemon's tail illustrated that it's skin had gone from orange to red. Gone was the cuteness and replaced by viciousness.

I smiled. "Let me rephrase: there's no pokemon I'd rather have fighting for me than Charmeleon! Charmeleon, flamethrower!"

A snarl revealed fire curling amongst Charmeleon's teeth. It blasted out and knocked the houndoom clear off it's feet. Piloswine made a startled noise and started charging.

"Dragon rage!"

As Charmeleon fired the yellow orb from it's mouth, I instantly became glad I had researched the evolutions of my pokemon this evening. The orb exploded as it came in contact with Piloswine but the ice pokemon charged right on through.

"Take down attack!" yelled a voice in the darkness.

"Use thunder fang Houndoom!"

In one bounding leap, the dark-type pokemon came flying in at my pokemon, lightning crackling in it's mouth. Houndoom came soaring over Piloswine, one coming in high and the other low. In a moment of panic, I froze.

A white streak appeared in the sky. It raced in at the battle and collided with Houndoom, sending it crashing to the ground.

My panic vanished. "Flamethrower!"

The river of fire smashed into the charging ice pokemon, lifting it off it's front legs. Charmeleon ratcheted up the power and Piloswine tipped over completely. With a moment to spare, I checked in on the white streak that had taken out the houndoom. It was hard to see it but I could see a pair of fluttering wings.

"Al?"

A squeak that sounded rather pleased found my ears from the direction of the fluttering wings. If Al was here, then clearly my friends were on their way. I only had to hold out for a few more moments.

In my brief lull of concentration, Houndoom and Piloswine had righted themselves and were advancing again. Houndoom erupted with a flamethrower and Piloswine fired a glowing mud shot, both aimed right at Charmeleon.

"Water gun!"

A blast of water shot out of the darkness. It slammed into the mud shot and then the two attacks sideswiped the flamethrower. The mud and water overpowered the flames and produced massive amounts of steam.

"Bonemerang!"

The white bone that I recognized as belonging to Vanessa's cubone came spinning out of the darkness and smacked Houndoom in the head, effectively ending it's flamethrower, before spinning back to it's owner.

"Water gun again!" shouted a voice that I clearly recognized as Dylan's.

Another blast of water punctured the lighted area. It slammed into Houndoom and shoved it out of the light. Piloswine looked alarmed. Charmeleon gave it a nasty look.

"Flamethrower!" I pointed right at the big pile of fur.

The piloswine found itself awash in flames. It held on for a few moments and then tipped over, sideways. The big hairy pokemon gave a tired groan. A similar groan from it's partner echoed out in the dark.

I could hear people yelling. I tracked the sound to my right and was pretty sure I could make out Al swooping down at the two people that weren't battling. I saw the white light from an opening poke ball and David's mankey was visible from a heartbeat. He was making sure that no one got away.

Dani emerged from the dark and dumped something into my hand. "Here."

It took me half a second to realize that they were my other pokemon. I restuck them into my belt, unsure of their order. Dani and her piplup took off into the dark and it struck me that she was trying to round up her stolen pokemon.

"We need some light," Dylan said as he stepped up next to me, his totodile at his heels. "We'll never track them all down in the dark. David's got them on the run I think but we can't see any pokemon. Nice charmeleon, by the way."

"Thanks," I grunted. "Am I the only one with an electric pokemon? They could probably light this place up."

Even in the darkness, I could see the lights go off in Dylan's eyes. "I'll be back. Come on Totodile!"

They disappeared into the darkness and I raced through the gap in the fence. I could hear human yells intermixed with what sounded like mankey yells. David did appear to have them all on the run. Charmeleon's fire light showed that they had at least taken the time to gather their own pokemon. Several donphan stood around, some pacing and some pawing at the ground.

Dylan stepped back into the lighted area with several more pokemon in tow. Totodile was herding along a trio of elekids and a pair of pichu. They all looked less than thrilled about what was going on.

"Ok, here we go," Dylan said to the electric pokemon. "Thundershocks up in the sky!"

The elekids began spinning their arms as they gathered up electricity. All five of the pokemon let loose with their lightning at once. The attacks crackled around each other and met some twenty feet up in the air. They spun into one big mess of lightning and provided enough light to see what had transpired.

David was returning from far away, Duke and Al in tow. Dani and Vanessa had rounded up a group of donphan and were using the temporary light to check for more. The electric pokemon ran out of energy and the land fell dark again. Charmeleon provided the only light.

"What's the verdict?" Dylan yelled.

"I think we got them all," was the reply. "How many are up there?"

Dylan took a quick tally. "Nine!"

There was a pause. "That's all of them!"

In all the panic, someone who wasn't me had the whereabouts to actually call the police. They arrived while we were trying to repair the fence in the light of Charmeleon's tail fire. The officers took down our stories while several others combed the property, all of them returning empty-handed. They agreed to stay and stand guard so we could sleep although the pattern of these thieves showed they'd be long gone.

It took some doing, but we all eventually got back to sleep.

In the morning the officers told us that they'd put out a bulletin warning others about the group that had tried to rob Dani. Although they were fairly certain it was safe, they agreed to watch guard again that night. Feeling at ease that Dani and her pokemon would be safe, we gathered up our things to continue on.

"So are you guys taking Trainers' Pass?" Dani asked as we double-checked that we had everything.

"Trainers' what?" I repeated, having only been half paying attention.

"Trainers' Pass. It's a path from Chicago to Trenton where the poison gym is. Takes you south around the lake and then straight to New Jersey. They call it that because everyone knows that everyone takes it so there's always a ton of trainers. I've heard stories where people literally finish one battle and start the next."

"That'd be interesting at least," Vanessa snorted. "We'd certainly keep busy."

"It's not as interesting as you might think," Dani retorted. "I'm not exaggerating. It's grueling. Pokemon centers are few and far between."

"Yeah but if it's the most direct route, we don't really have a choice," Dylan said as he straightened up and shouldered his pack. "You guys ready?"

We all nodded and pulled on our backpacks as well. I spun my hat around once on my finger and then tugged it onto my head. David and Vanessa adjusted their pack straps. With everything set, we were ready to head out.

"Hang on, I have something for you," Dani said and then disappeared into another room. She came back with one hand behind her back and beckoned for us to follow her outside.

"I wanted to thank all of you for helping me last night." She gave us all a warm smile. "I couldn't think of a better way to do it than this."

Moving from one to the next, she gave us each a poke ball. We all stared at them in surprise. Our host motioned for us to open them. Together, we tossed them into the air. Out of mine burst a small yellow sandshrew that Dani had noted that I liked. Dylan received one of the elekids he had rounded up to light the sky last night. In Vanessa's ball had been one of the fluffy mareeps that she coveted so much. David received a pokemon that was very familiar to me, a pichu.

"I made sure that each of these had a little something extra to go with them," Dani continued. She then went to each of us personally to tell us what the something extra was. "That sandshrew knows dig. Usually it'd have to teach it to one."

I was literally speechless. I had just been helping out a friend. Never had I expected to be rewarded for a good deed. I could tell from the looks on the others' faces that they felt the same way.

"Well, I, we, have something for you too," Dylan said, stepping forward. "You told us about the issues you have with breeding sometimes. I think this will help."

He placed a poke ball in her hand which she looked at quizzically. My friend nodded at her and then at the ball. She tossed it into the air and as it burst open, I immediately understood. Dylan had given her his ditto.

"Correct me if I'm wrong but dittos can breed with anything because they're genderless," Dylan said with a smile.

Dani, at a loss for words, simply hugged him. After she broke from him, she hugged the rest of us as well. With everything now out of the way, we were on the road again. Once we got to the edge of town we hailed a cab. Not wanting to waste an entire day crossing through Chicago, one cab ride and a chunk of cash saved us that trouble.

"I swear that guy was snickering as we got out," Dylan said as we advanced on Trainers' Pass.

"I wouldn't doubt it if what Dani told us is true," I replied.

The place we had been dropped off at looked a lot like some kind of park. A low wooden fence outlined the start of the Pass. A few picnic tables were sprinkled about as well as a small building that I could only assume had bathrooms. Starting at the opening in the fence, a well-worn dirt path wandered out into the distance and out of sight.

I came up behind David who was reading a large wooden sign that was covered with information about Trainers' Pass. "Any idea how long it'll take us?"

David finished what he was reading before responding. "Not sure. It's close to 675 miles. Maybe twenty, twenty-two days?"

"Think we have enough supplies to last that long?"

He pointed at a few spots on the map. "Well we pass through a couple of cities and there's the occasional pokemon center. We haven't used much lately so we should be alright. I think."

Vanessa emerged from the restroom and Dylan moved to join us by the sign. With the group reassembled, we started our trip down the Pass.

We quickly learned that there were several stages of trainers on the pass.

The first stage of trainers were mostly younger trainers, both literally and figuratively. The oldest one that we encountered couldn't have been older than thirteen. They all also had more common pokemon, such as rattatas or pidgeys, or un-evolved bug pokemon. After we battled a few, we realized why they were all crowded near the beginning. Even our most inexperienced pokemon were able to defeat one of the first stagers' pokemon with a single blow. They were constantly retreated to the nearby pokemon center. Once we had steamrolled through several each, they pretty much left us along.

We encountered the next stage of trainers after we had walked for a couple hours. These trainers were older than the first stage but still not veteran trainers. Many of them still used mostly common pokemon but we encountered a few different types. Vanessa actually faced off against someone else with a charmander. Their pokemon were stronger than the first group's too. Not brutally strong though, it still only took a couple of hits to take one down.

Dylan finally deduced the meanings of the groups.

"It's a strength and pride thing. If you can get further away from a pokemon center and stay out there, you're a tough trainer. You don't have to go heal your pokemon often because you're always winning. I bet the middle points between pokemon centers are going to be swarming with tough trainers."

We didn't encounter any of the Dylan's prophesized tough trainers on our first day of walking. It wasn't until midday on our second day that we encountered our firsts. I was challenged by a preppily dressed guy probably around my age that introduced himself as Jake. We moved to an dirt covered area off the path, near a patch of trees.

I kept Dylan's theory about the tougher trainers in mind as I mulled over my pokemon selection. The dirt field we were about to battle on gave me a vibe that I liked. Trusting that vibe, I moved Sandshrew to the starting spot in my lineup for it's first ever battle. Grovyle got slotted in second to provide some power. I liked the idea of power so I pushed Heracross into the final spot.

"You ready?" Jake called to me.

"Show me what you got!"

We threw our first pokemon onto the field simultaneously. What I saw raised my spirits. I recognized the conjoined three metal orbs as a magneton, recalling it from the gym in Chicago. It was both a steel and electric type, giving my ground typed sand shrew a double type advantage.

Things appeared to be in my favor. "Let's go! Sandshrew, use dig!"

The little yellow pokemon just quivered. It's big black eyes darted around nervously.

I tilted my head and looked at it. "Come on Sandshrew! Dig!"

My pokemon just looked mortified. I couldn't figure out what was going on and I didn't have much time.

"Use sonic boom, Magneton!"

I was left with no choice. "Return Sandshrew!"

With the pokemon safely recalled to it's poke ball, I grimaced at it. I had no idea why it wouldn't battle but it was a mystery to be solved later.

"Heracross, you're up!" I didn't have to worry about my pokemon not battling now.

"Thundershock Magneton!"

From the horseshoe shaped magnets on it's body, the electric pokemon blasted out lightning. Heracross was caught flat-footed. The bug pokemon tensed up as it absorbed the attack.

"Get out of there Heracross! Horn attack!"

The wings snapped out of the back of my pokemon and it launched forward. Heracross broke free of the thundershock attack. It quickly closed the gap and plowed into the steel pokemon, horn first. Because it floated, the magneton was shoved back but it's steel-typed properties prevented it from taking much damage.

As long as we were in close, I decided to take advantage. "Fury attack!"

Heracross became a cloud of swinging body parts. Claws and horns battered the steel pokemon that took it all in stride. Then it blasted my pokemon away with a thundershock.

Jake was quick to follow up. "Spark!"

Magneton came rushing in, blue electricity flowing out of the magnets on it's body. As it got closer, the electricity encompassed it's whole body. It slammed into Heracross and the blue electricity transferred itself to my pokemon. Heracross screamed and went down to one knee as Magneton floated away.

"Hera-cross!" the bug pokemon flexed and the electricity dissipated. There was fury in it's yellow eyes.

I was trying to decide how best to attack when Jake beat me to the punch. "Tri-attack, Magneton! We've got them on the ropes!"

From each magnet, white energy crackled out towards the center of it's body. The arcs of energy fused together to form a white triangle that hovered in front of the steel pokemon. The magnets ceased their output and the triangle blasted away.

There was a moment of panic, followed by a moment of clarity.

"Counter!"

A look of horror came over Jake's face.

An orange aura encased Heracross and it threw it's hands out in front of it. The energy triangle slammed into Heracross' outstretched arms, bending them in slightly. The orange aura flowed from Heracross to the tri-attack, completely encompassing it.

"Do it Heracross!"

With a shove, my pokemon sent the attack right back at it's creator. It slammed into the Magneton and exploded. Not only had the orange aura doubled the energy of the tri-attack, it had converted it's energy to a fighting type.

A fighting type energy that was super effective against steel-typed pokemon. Heracross had essentially quadrupled the power of the attack.

From the back of the explosion, Jake's magneton came tumbling out. It was no longer shiny. It was covered with soot and scuffs. The reflected attack had clearly decimated it.

"Time to finish this!" I yelled. "Brick break!"

The red glow formed on the horn of the bug pokemon as it streaked through the air. Jake tried to mount a counteroffensive but his pokemon had been dazed. The electric pokemon hadn't gained it's bearings by the time Heracross plowed through it with another super effective attack.

This time the magneton didn't get back up. There was no referee to make the official announcement. Jake recalled his pokemon in silence.

He held up a different poke ball. "Let's see how you handle this! Vigoroth!"

I had never seen a vigoroth before. I took a moment to take it in.

The normal typed pokemon began moving around almost as soon as it appeared. It was a bipedal white-furred pokemon. At the end of two long arms were a pair of long claws. It had a large mouth and eyes, both surrounded by a ring of brown fur. A red tuft of fur rested on it's forehead.

Clearly the vigoroth had a ton of energy. I glanced at Heracross. The bug breathed slowly but heavily. Technically Heracross had a type advantage but I wasn't sure if that would even help at this point. It needed a rest.

I held up a poke ball. "Heracross, return!"

"Cross!" Heracross said as it was drawn in, ready for a rest.

"Interesting," Jake murmured. "I would've expected you to use your type advantage."

"I thought about it," I admitted. "Heracross needs a rest though. I've got something else for Vigoroth. Grovyle, go!"

The vigoroth reminded me a little of the zangoose that I had battled what seemed like forever ago. I decided to attack it based on how I would've approached the battle if it were against a zangoose.

"Quick attack, Grovyle!"

"Fury swipes!"

The grass pokemon blazed across the ground, a cloud of dust in it's wake. Vigoroth widened it's stance and opened up it's arms in anticipation. Once Grovyle closed the distance, Vigoroth began swinging with reckless abandon. The flurry of claws and fur was too much for Grovyle to penetrate. Despite it's speed, the grass pokemon couldn't break through.

Time for a tactics change. Power might succeed where speed failed. "Leaf blade!"

The leaves on Grovyle's right arm fused into the green curved blade. My pokemon threw all it's weight behind the strike. The fury swipes slowed the grass attack down but Grovyle powered through and slashed the blade across the chest of Vigoroth.

Jake had a power attack of his own though. "Crush claw!"

Vigoroth's claws began glowing and crackling with a white energy. It leapt forward and slashed at Grovyle, making it stumble back. The two pokemon sneered at each other.

I paused for a moment to take in the situation. Vigoroth had both it's claws glowing with crush claw. Grovyle only had one leaf blade. That left my pokemon vulnerable to a counterattack. Unfortunately, my opponent saw it too.

"Double crush claw Vigoroth!"

Vigoroth lunged forward, swinging a mighty arm down at Grovyle. The plant pokemon shifted it's feet and blocked the strike with it's leaf blade. With it's free arm, Vigoroth lashed out with it's second set of glowing claws. Without a ready counter, I winced. There was the sound of impact but not like I had expected.

I searched for the source of the sound. That's when I noticed that Grovyle was still in the same spot. For a moment I thought that Vigoroth had aborted it's swing yet it's arm was in contact with Grovyle's. It's what was between their arms that drew my attention. It was something glowing neon green: a second leaf blade.

Suddenly a whole new door of possibilities had opened.

"Bullet seed!" I yelled.

Grovyle's jaw dropped and suddenly Vigoroth was getting a face full of exploding, glowing seeds. The white-furred pokemon roared and launched itself away from the conflict. Grovyle tried to follow it with the barrage of seeds but Vigoroth was leaping around at high speeds.

"Vigoroth, slash!"

Vigoroth's claws became covered in a white glow and extended out another half as long again.

I didn't like the looks of things. "Dodge it!"

Vigoroth hacked through the space that Grovyle had just occupied, white streaks trailing behind it's claws. With powerful kicks of it's legs, Grovyle was bounding backwards with Vigoroth in hot pursuit. Each slash attack was getting closer than the previous attempt.

Inwardly, I frowned. Even when it was still a treecko, my pokemon had enjoyed a fair speed advantage. This vigoroth was matching it move for move, as quickly if not quicker. What was once my advantage was now gone. I had to figure out a new tactic.

Vigoroth continued it's assault. One slash finally clipped Grovyle, sending it tumbling to the ground. The grass pokemon rolled to the base of a tree that was part of the patch near our battle field.

Something that I had read in my pokedex flashed into my mind. "Into the trees Grovyle!"

In a flash, Grovyle had flipped around and scrambled up the tree. Vigoroth landed at the base of the tree and looked up. The leaves of the tree next to it rustled. Then the one next to it. Pretty soon the whole patch of trees was rustling as Grovyle was moving fluidly through them all. Vigoroth stood at the base of the trees, head jerking back and forth as it tried to track my pokemon.

Jake barked at his pokemon. "Don't just stand there! Get in there after it!"

I had other intentions. "Bullet seed!"

Grovyle's head suddenly appeared out of the tree that Vigoroth was attempting to climb. It pelted the climbing pokemon with exploding seeds, knocking it back to the ground, before disappearing back into the foliage again. Vigoroth snarled and attempted to climb the tree again. It was met with the same result.

The third time, Vigoroth took a different approach. It leapt at a tree, rotated around, landing feet first. It then launched itself again, this time aiming itself higher. Three leaps later, it was up in the high branches with my pokemon. The trees began to shake violently as they chased each other.

"Leaf blade!"

"Slash!"

There was the sound of two slices and branches began falling. I caught a glimpse of white fur. Grovyle hadn't used it's leaf blade on Vigoroth like I had expected. It had severed the branches it had been standing on. Not what I had planned, but effective nonetheless. Grovyle was still in the tree and Vigoroth was on it's way to the ground.

I pointed at the falling pokemon. "Now's our chance! Leaf blade!"

Like a rocket, the grass-type pokemon flew out of the trees. It ratcheted it's arm back as the leaves fused back into the sickle blade. This time the blade was far longer than usual.

"Gro-vyle!"

It slashed the blade through the air, leaving a gigantic green streak in it's wake. The falling vigoroth had no shot at getting up a defense. Grovyle raked it's blade across the chest of Vigoroth and then used it's momentum to swing around and hack it's opponent once more.

Vigoroth slammed into the ground with amazing force. Landing flat on it's back, it slid back through the dirt. It left a divot almost four feet long and half a foot deep. Letting out a grumble, the pokemon lifted a paw into the air. The paw dropped back down.

"Vigoroth, return!" Jake called, sucking the fallen pokemon back into it's ball. "Your grovyle has some skills."

"Thanks. Your vigoroth wasn't half bad either."

Jake nodded. "Let's see how you handle a _real_ grass type though! Grotle, you're up!"

I had yet to see anything like this new pokemon, so I popped open my pokedex. It was mostly green with yellow bands running around it's four legs. Running down it's back was what looked like a segmented shell with two bushes growing out of it. Three brown streaks ran down the shell that looked almost like dirt. It's face reminded me a little bit of a squirtle's, only green, with a little bit of an overbite and a yellow lower jaw that jutted out at the corners. An evolved grass type and one with a considerable defense but not much speed is what I gleaned from my pokedex.

"You, sir, are in the presence of a real grass type," I shot back. "Grovyle! Quick attack!"

Grovyle blasted off from where it stood, leaving a streak in the air behind it. Jake repositioned his grotle and waited. I couldn't figure out what he was up to.

"Razor leaf!" he yelled once Grovyle got close.

"Bullet seed!" I countered.

My pokemon slammed it's feet into the ground as it screeched to a stop. It opened it's mouth and fired the barrage of seeds. From the bushes on the back of Grotle, wickedly sharp leaves came blasting out. The two attacks slammed together. Explosions and charred leaves filled the sky. I could see my pokemon and that was it.

"Mega drain!"

A dark green beam cut through the smoke and charred leaves and slammed into Grovyle. It wrapped around the pokemon and turned red. I yelled for it to break free but I could see that the attack was already doing it's damage. Suddenly, the red aura broke free and shot back through the clearing smoke. I could just barely see it touch Grotle and be absorbed.

It took me a second but I realized that I had essentially seen a ramped up version of absorb, a move the very pokemon I was using now had once used to great success. Now whatever minute amount of energy Jake's pokemon had exerted had been restored

to it. Luckily being a grass type had prevented the grass attack from stealing too much energy.

"Razor leaf once more!" Jake shouted.

"Get out of there!" I called.

Grovyle leapt away from the slicing leaves. A few more jumps and it was positioned back in front of the trees it had defeated Vigoroth in. My mind raced furiously. I pulled out my pokedex and looked up Grovyle for inspiration. As I quickly scrolled through the list of attacks Grovyle should know, one caught my eye.

"Fury cutter!"

The claws on Grovyle's left hand began to glow with a whitish-green energy. Taking a staggered path, it charged in on the stationary grotle. With a wide, arcing slash, it brought the glowing claws down on the four-legged grass type, a trail of light following it through the air. Grovyle caught Grotle just to the side of the eye. The power of the attack, despite being a super-effective bug type, barely had the power to turn Grotle's head.

"Fury cutter once more!"

The green glow intensified as Grovyle reversed the direction of it's arm. This time in a backhanded swipe, Grotle was almost lifted off it's front feet. I smiled. Every time fury cutter was used in succession, it's power doubled.

Jake was on to me though. "Bite!"

When Grovyle came around for a third strike, Grotle lunged out and clamped it's jaws around Grovyle's arm, careful to avoid the glowing claws. For a moment they both stood there, struggling. Neither seemed able to over power the other.

I decided to break the stalemate. "Leaf blade!"

The leaves on Grovyle's right arm fused into the glowing green blade. It slashed at Grotle who had exposed the underside of it's neck while holding onto my pokemon. Immediately the quadruped grass pokemon let go of my own grass pokemon. Then it blasted my pokemon with razor leaf.

The attack sent Grovyle flying backwards. I wasn't completely sure but I didn't think it had done much damage. It was more being caught off guard that had led to Grovyle's being thrown backwards. Although I had found a way to damage Jake's pokemon, it was time for a change of tactic.

"Grovyle, return!" I held up the poke ball and drew the pokemon in. "Heracross, you're back up!"

Jake shook his head. "You should've pressed your advantage when you had it. I'll make you pay for not doing so. Curse!"

I had not seen this move before so I paused and waited. A red glow surrounded Grotle and energy began to flow off of it. It raised up and gave a cry. It slammed it's front feet to the ground and the glow dissipated. There was no visual differences to the grass type but I had a feeling that it had in fact done something.

Only one way to find out. "Heracross, use horn attack!"

The wings popped out of the bug's shell and it raced in on the grotle. Points of the horn forward, Heracross slammed into the opposing pokemon. The grass type barely flinched.

"Tackle!"

With a lunge, Grotle sent my heracross flailing backwards. I shook my head quickly to make sure what I had seen was real. Grotle hadn't even moved when one of my physically strongest pokemon had attacked it head on. Then it had sent it flying with just a simple tackle. Curse was apparently more than meets the eye.

"After it!" Jake ordered. "Tackle again!"

Now I could see where the move had gotten it's name. Curse may have upped the grass pokemon's attack and defense but it was now as slow as the dirt on it's back. Heracross was easily back up on it's feet and dodged the tackle with plenty of time to spare.

"Here we go Heracross!" I shouted as it buzzed around the slow grotle. "Brick break!"

Horn aglow with red fighting type energy, Heracross darted in. Slamming it's horn into the side of Grotle, it managed to knock it slightly off balance. I called for it again and got the same result.

I frowned as Heracross zipped away from a razor leaf, getting clipped by one or two in the arm. I did still have an ace in the hole but I had been hoping to save that for the knockout blow. Jake had proved himself an adept trainer and I didn't want him to figure out how to counter it if we didn't finish right here.

With a grimace, I decide that I had no choice. "Aerial ace!"

Making a wide arc around Grotle, Heracross began to build up speed. White energy began flowing from it's horn. It let out a battle cry and barreled straight down at the grass type pokemon. Jake tried to shout a counter but with Heracross coming in from behind there was no chance.

Heracross smashed into Grotle with enough force that the grass pokemon was tossed a few feet forward. It's feet were still slow from Curse and it landed face first in the soft dirt. I could hear it growling in anger.

"We're not out of the woods yet Heracross!" I yelled to my pokemon. "Give it another aerial ace!"

"Hera-cross!" the bug pokemon screamed as it shot back up into the sky.

"Don't get up!" Jake shouted in what seemed like the strangest order I'd ever heard. "Roll and use razor leaf!"

Suddenly things made sense as the bulky grotle rolled itself around to point the bushes on it's back at the incoming her across. The bushes then exploded with razor sharp leaves. All of them were aimed right at my pokemon.

"More speed!" I hollered, hoping the pokemon could hear me. "Plow right on through! You can do it!"

In the sky, Heracross seemed to skip forward as it accelerated. The white energy flowing from it's horn deflected the cloud of leaves as they approached. Grotle picked up it's effort, filling the sky with sharpened leaves. All I could make out of Heracross was the glowing light the flickered out from between the leaves.

Then Heracross hit.

Instead of pulling back after impact, Heracross kept right on going. Carried by the energy covered horn, Grotle was dragged across the ground. A long deep divot was formed in their wake. Finally Heracross pulled up and Grotle was thrown back. The grass pokemon bounced twice and then fell motionless beside the main path.

My eyes met Jake's. There was a flash of anger. He softened it with a small smile. "That was quite a battle."

Jake drew his grotle back into it's poke ball and we met in the middle of our battle field. He shook my hand and handed me my winnings.

"What was the deal with your sandshrew?" he asked. "I'd never seen anything like that before."

I shrugged. "I don't know. I just got it. Maybe it's never battled before?"

"Didn't you battle it when you caught it?" Jake raised an eyebrow.

I explained how it was a gift from Dani.

"Maybe it has never battled," Jake conceded. "That might be why it looked so scared and confused."

We shook hands again and Jake departed. Heracross flitted over to my side and looked up at me expectantly. Looking at the bug pokemon gave me an idea.

"Hang on a second," I said to it, placing a hand on it's head. "I need your help with something."

Sitting down on the ground, I pulled out Sandshrew's poke ball. I tapped the center button and released the pokemon. The little yellow shrew looked around for a moment and then saw me. It quickly turned and tried to hide in what appeared to be embarrassment.

"Hey, whoa there," I said, turning it around with my hands. "I just want to talk to you. I'm not mad."

It looked up at me with watery black eyes.

"Settle down there. It's not a big deal. If anything, what happened was my fault, not yours."

Now Sandshrew's eyes dried up. It looked at me quizzically.

I smiled at it. "It never even occurred to me that you might never have battled before. I won't lie to you: I'm still fairly new at this. Especially when it comes to young pokemon. I have an idea to help us both out though. I want you to meet Heracross."

The bug pokemon gave it a jolly hello. Sandshrew squeaked something back.

"I'm going to have Heracross tutor you. You're both going to follow me around outside of your poke balls. Heracross, when I battle, I want you to explain everything to Sandshrew. Attacking, defending, countering, following orders, improvising, and anything else you can think of. Answer any questions Sandshrew might have. How does that sound?"

Heracross was delighted. Sandshrew looked from me to Heracross and then back to me again. It clambered up into my lap and gave me a hug that I returned. I took that as a yes. I climbed back to my feet and started back towards the main path. Heracross had already put an arm around Sandshrew and was jabbering away as we walked. In another life, it had probably been a pokemon trainer.

It suddenly dawned on me that I had been separated from my friends for quite a while now. I glanced around in an effort to find them. Dylan was the first one I saw. He had his back to me, shielding the source of a column of flames. I hoped he was using his cyndaquil or else his bulbasaur was probably not having fun right now. Eventually I located David and Vanessa. They were teamed up in a double battle against a couple that looked far older than them. I wasn't certain but it looked like they were at least holding their own.

"Hey kid! I want to battle you!"

It wasn't until I heard the voice again did I realize that I was being addressed. I looked around until I saw a woman marching towards me. She was a fair bit older than me, probably over thirty. There was a determination in her step. She stopped when she was about a foot in front of me.

"You young people. No respect for your elders," she huffed. "I'm going to teach you some respect. Let's go."

I was totally taken aback by her blatant disregard for young people. At first I tried to protest but I could see that it was going to get me no where.

"Let's go, let's go!" she hurried me. "I'm going to teach you some respect by beating up your heracross."

I shook my head. "Heracross isn't battling."

"What?"

"Heracross and Sandshrew are spectators," I explained. "Heracross is tutoring Sandshrew in battling. You and I can still battle, just with different pokemon."

My potential opponent fumed. "Fine! Let's go. Two pokemon each!"

My reply was just a sigh. I knew it would do no good to argue with her. She was so busy yelling at me for being disrespectful, she hadn't even told me her name or asked for mine. I had never felt so disrespected while being taught respect.

I moved Charmeleon and Mudkip to the front of my lineup. "I'm ready whenever you are."

"Fine! Staravia, let's go!"

Before releasing a pokemon, I pulled out my pokedex. The lady had released what was clearly a flying pokemon. It was a smallish bird pokemon, light gray on the bottom with a darker gray on the top. There was also a small crest on the top of it's head. It had an orange beak and feet with black claws.

"Charmeleon, start us off!"

The lady I was facing didn't even wait for Charmeleon to fully appear out of it's poke ball. "Staravia, quick attack!"

The flying pokemon jumped in and started racing at my pokemon.

"Hey, what the-? Charmeleon, flamethrower!"

My opponent was probably immediately regretting her attempt to jump the gun. She had clearly underestimated how quickly Charmeleon could react to my orders. In a flash, her staravia was almost invisible in the wash of flames.

"Quick attack Staravia! Get out of there!"

There was a bubble in the column of fire and then the flying pokemon came soaring out. It's grey feathers were now much grayer with soot. It looked incredibly unhappy at the moment.

"Use Take down Staravia!"

Dipping into a dive, red streak of energy began to bleed off of Staravia. It was building up a lot of speed and a lot of force.

"Wait for it," I said.

Staravia was closing the space between it and Charmeleon rapidly.

"Now! Dragon rage!"

Charmeleon ratcheted his jaw open and the yellow ball began forming. It hesitated just a moment and then fired the ball of energy off. Staravia had built up too much speed at that point and couldn't alter course. It took the attack head on. The resulting explosion sent Staravia spiraling off to the side, heading towards the ground.

I seized the opportunity. "Slash!"

Claws growing with a white energy, the fire pokemon leapt at the crashing staravia. Things looked to be going my way.

"Snap out of it Staravia! Wing attack!"

Faster than I could've imagined, Staravia snapped out of it's free fall and righted itself in the air. It's wings began glowing and it took off at the airborne Charmeleon. My pokemon didn't have a chance to react. Staravia ran it's left wing right into my Charmeleon's stomach and lifted it up into the sky. The shock of the impact caused the fire pokemon's claws to revert to normal size.

I knew I had to do something quick before the flying pokemon got my own pokemon too high up in the sky. "Fire fang!"

Fire filled Charmeleon's mouth. Grabbing hold of Staravia, it bit down. The fire in my pokemon's mouth flared up and there was an explosion that hid both pokemon from view. Charmeleon emerged from the explosion first, falling the fifteen feet to the ground with small trails of smoke following it. Staravia came next, in complete free fall. The flying pokemon crashed down hard and didn't move again.

"I can't believe you!" my opponent yelled and it took me to a moment to realize she was yelling at me. "You're out of line!"

I sneered. "I'm not out of line, you just got beat. Deal with it!"

She was so taken aback that she couldn't even form a sentence for a moment. "I don't believe it! Of all the snot-nose… uppity… egotistical…!"

"You going to battle or not?" I crossed my arms and glared at her. "I don't have all day."

She sputtered for a minute before releasing another pokemon. It was another pokemon that I was unfamiliar with. It was purple and stood on four legs. There were large spines coming off it's back and off of it's large ears. A big horn was right above it's eyes on it's forehead. My pokedex identified it as a nidorino and a poisonous pokemon.

I considered my options. Charmeleon was the stronger of my two pokemon and had only suffered minor damage in it's battle with Staravia. Normally I might have kept it in but with the rapid succession that I had been challenged made me think. I might need the fire pokemon later and need it fresh.

"Charmeleon, return!" I pulled it back into it's ball. "Mudkip, let's do this!"

"Nidorino, horn attack!"

"Mud slap, Mudkip!"

The nidorino pawed at the ground once and then started charging. It lowered it's horn and got Mudkip in it's sites. Despite being fairly smaller Mudkip stood it's ground. When Nidorino got closer, Mudkip reared back up onto it's hind legs. It dug it's front paws into the ground and flung two globs of mud at the charging poison pokemon. The first glob was a little off target and only caught the big ear of Nidorino. That was enough to turn Nidorino just slightly and the second mud glob was right on target. Nidorino went stumbling off course.

"Water gun!"

Mudkip rolled it's head back and then blasted the nidorino with a torrent of water. The impact was enough to knock it over. When Nidorino righted itself, I had Mudkip blast it again with another water gun. I wanted to mix up my attacks and use some physical ones but what I had read in my pokedex made me hesitant. Nidorino had the ability of 'poison point' and there was a chance that any pokemon that made physical contact with it could be poisoned. That wasn't a risk I could take.

"Fury attack!" my opponent yelled.

Nidorino righted itself and closed in on Mudkip with alarming speed. The poison pokemon began jabbing rapidly with it's horn. My pokemon began scampering around in an attempt to stay safe. It was doing pretty well for a bit. Then it made a misstep and was tossed aside by a stabbing horn.

Behind me I could hear Heracross still jabbering away to Sandshrew. Hopefully I was making a good first impression.

"Hang in there Mudkip! Use water gun again!"

The water pokemon scrambled back to it's feet and soaked Nidorino again. The poison pokemon had been charging and caught the water attack right on the top of it's head, driving it into the ground. It plowed on through for a moment or two before coming to a full stop.

"Double kick!"

Swinging it's hindquarters around, Nidorino landed a pair of vicious kicks to my pokemon. The force of the kicks sent the smaller pokemon sprawling back. The water pokemon landed flat on it's back and struggled to right itself.

"Now's our chance Nidorino!" yelled the crazy lady. "Horn attack!"

"Mud slap!" I countered.

Mudkip dug it's paws into the soggy ground. Nidorino loomed over it, horn pointed. The water pokemon timed it's attacks perfectly. The first mud slap caught Nidorino on the chin, tipping it back. The second hit dead center in the chest and finished knocking the poison pokemon over.

I tallied it up in my head: at least three super-effective attacks and three water guns. It was about to be over. "Water gun! Finish it off!"

Mudkip finally righted itself and zeroed in on the toppled nidorino. A big blast of water picked Nidorino right up off the ground and slammed it into a nearby tree, one of the ones Grovyle had hidden in earlier. I was beginning to really like those trees.

"It's over!" I declared as Nidorino couldn't get back up to it's feet. "You lose."

"You cheated!"

I was taken aback. "Wait, what?"

"You cheated! I don't have to pay you! In fact… you should pay me!"

A third voice interjected. "Oh, I don't think so."

I turned to see Dylan standing there. Next to him was a pokemon I didn't recognize. It was a few feet tall and most of it's body was a similar shade of blue that Totodile's was. Across it's chest and stomach was tan but mottled with some large blue spots. It's very large lower jaw was also tan and a few teeth could be seen protruding. Down it's back ran some red spikes.

"This young man didn't cheat at all," Dylan continued. "Using one's environment is not cheating. He simply made use of things that you did not."

"He cheated!" the woman spat. "I won't pay him!"

"Just because you lost doesn't mean I cheated. It just means I'm better," I sneered.

The woman gave me a few more choice words, threw a small crumpled wad on money on the ground and stomped off. Being closer, Dylan retrieved it for me.


	23. Chapter 23

"That was interesting," he said, giving me the money.

I rolled my eyes. "You didn't hear half of what she was saying. She definitely had a screw loose. Apparently I was 'disrespecting' her by not letting her win." I then remembered the new pokemon at Dylan's side. "Who's this?"

"Croconaw," Dylan said proudly. "Formerly known as Totodile. The original reason that I came over here but now I think we need to get out of here."

"Why?"

"These trainers are like predators. They swoop in as soon as you finish a battle and try to beat you to win easy money. We need to find David and Vanessa and get out of here."

Dylan put Croconaw away and we moved away from where I had been battling, Heracross and Sandshrew still in tow. Glancing around I could see that Dylan was right. Numerous sets of eyes were following us.

"I challenge you!" one of them finally shouted.

"No, I challenge you!" another cut in.

"You can beat him after I beat him!" the first one shot back. "He can't refuse my challenge!"

"Hoo boy, I'm in trouble," I muttered.

"Tell you what," Dylan interjected. "Why don't you both battle? We'll face you in a tag-team match. Everyone uses two pokemon."

The terms of the match had been settled before I had even figured out who had challenged me. One of them turned out to be a punk rock looking guy with spiky hair. The other was a girl, possibly his girlfriend, with purple hair.

"Who do you have available?" Dylan asked in a hushed voice as we moved back to my battling field.

I spared a glance at Heracross who gave me the tiniest of head shakes. "Pikachu."

Dylan's face fell. "That's it?"

Biting the inside of my lip, I reconsidered. "Well I guess I technically have Corphish and Grimer too. Grimer hasn't battled yet though."

"Use Grimer. We'll pair it with Gyarados. We can hide it's inexperience."

I shook my head to make sure I wasn't hearing things. "You're using Gyarados?"

He gave me a panicked look. "I just had a four-on-four battle. My options are limited. Bulbasaur is still mostly fresh. I haven't used Zigzagoon in a long time and I don't know if it would cut it here. Start with Pikachu."

"This is going to be interesting."

We turned back to the field. Our opponents were already ready, poke balls in hand. They looked supremely confident. I tried to school my features into something that resembled confidence.

"Let's do this," I called. "We'll all send our pokemon out at once to be fair."

All four of us cocked our arms back and pitched our pokemon onto the field. Pikachu and Bulbasaur materialized in front of us. Two pokemon appeared on the other side. One I recognized, one I didn't. The one I didn't was plump and yellow. It had black hands shaped like boxing gloves, two red O's on it's cheeks and what looked like a knot on the top of it's head. The other one was long and purple. It had a big hood below it's head, filled with colors. One of my cousins had one down in Texas and I had a flashback to what an arbok could do.

"Makuhita," Dylan identified the other pokemon. "Fighting type. I think we can handle this."

"I'll get us started then. Pikachu, quick attack on that makuhita!"

Pikachu kicked up a cloud of dirt as it took off.

"Arbok, intercept it with poison sting!"

The poisonous pokemon slithered in front of it's partner and opened it's mouth, revealing razor sharp teeth. A barrage of purple needles fired out in a wide spray. All of them were aimed right at Pikachu.

"Dodge it!" I yelled.

"Vine whip on Arbok!" Dylan backed me up.

Pikachu suddenly veered off at an angle, avoiding the poison sting attack. With my pikachu out of the way, Dylan's bulbasaur shot the two dark green vines out of the base of it's bulb. They cut through the air right at Arbok.

"Makuhita, use arm thrust!" shouted the guy.

Arbok slithered quickly out of the way and Makuhita took it's place. It held up it's arms, palms forward. As Bulbasaur's vines closed in, Makuhita struck. With a thrust of each arm it smacked the vines away.

I looked at Dylan. "Oh shit."

He nodded his agreement. "We may have walked into a trap. Concentrate on the arbok first."

"Pikachu, thundershock!"

The girl waved an arm. "Arbok, acid!"

As Pikachu fired it's blast of lightning, the arbok opened it's mouth again. This time a constant stream of a thick brownish liquid came out. It met the thundershock in the air and held it at bay. I could hear Pikachu cry out in surprise.

"Makuhita, tackle!"

I was left at a crossroads: cancel the electric attack and hope the acid didn't get Pikachu as it tried to avoid Makuhita or hold off the acid and let Makuhita hit unimpeded.

Dylan helped make the decision a little easier. Bulbasaur launched a cloud of razor leaves at the charging fighting pokemon, driving it back.

"Get out of there Pikachu!" I shouted. "Quick attack!"

The electric pokemon ended it's current and raced across the field again. Arbok tried to track Pikachu with it's acid but it couldn't keep up. Pikachu rammed full force into the poison pokemon. It didn't really move. It did however slither away to let Makuhita attack.

"Iron tail!" I shouted.

"Force palm!" the guy shouted.

Pikachu whirled around, aiming it's glowing tail at the advancing fighting type. Makuhita had it's palm open again but this time there was a ball of energy forming. It slammed the ball against the oncoming steel attack. There was a moment of hesitation and then the energy ball exploded. The explosion was focused away from Makuhita and easily hurled Pikachu through the air.

I shook my head as I surveyed the scene that was taking place. Pikachu was down for the moment with Makuhita heading towards it. Dylan had his bulbasaur dancing away from the arbok and it's barrage of poison sting attacks. They were only being partially successful. As far as I could tell, we were taking a beating and had dealt very little, if any back.

Dylan spared me a glance. "Got any bright ideas or do we need to switch pokemon?"

A thought crossed my mind. "Yeah, maybe. Give me just one second."

Pikachu had risen to it's feet and gave me a look.

I smiled at it. "Ok Pikachu, I need you to dig deep. Give it everything you've got because this might be our last chance…"

I paused.

"Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu exploded with lightning. A huge bolt blasted out at Makuhita, easily more than twice the size and probably the power of it's thundershock. Makuhita was encased in the electricity and then heaved across the battlefield. Pikachu looked rather pleased with itself.

Dylan's bulbasaur forgotten, the arbok swung towards Pikachu. Clearly my pokemon now represented the bigger threat. Or so they thought.

"Ooh, bad idea," Dylan smirked. "Leech seed!"

From the top of the Bulbasaur's bulb shot out a single seed. As soon as it made contact with Arbok, it erupted into leafy vines. The vines snaked around the pokemon until they wrapped all the way down to it's end. At first the arbok just looked confused but that quickly turned to annoyance once it seemed to be zapped by a red energy.

The red energy looked familiar to me. "Is it draining Arbok's energy?"

Dylan smiled. "Yeah. Bit by bit. Some of it even goes back to Bulbasaur."

"Nice."

"Watch out!"

In our moment of distraction, Makuhita had raced in at Pikachu. It's arm was cocked back for another force palm attack.

I didn't hesitate. "Double team!"

Makuhita ground to a stop as it was now surrounded by pikachus. It looked around in an attempt to decide which one to attack. It's trainer called for the left. A thrust and an explosion followed but the ring of Pikachu was still intact. Makuhita retreated to the center of the ring to decide which to attack next. During it's deliberations, Bulbasaur nailed it too with a leech seed.

"Take down!" Dylan shouted.

A golden aura trailed Bulbasaur as it ran full steam into Arbok. As it hit the aura flowed forward, adding the extra power behind the attack. The poison pokemon hit the ground and skidded back. The leech seed drained another bit of energy.

"Makuhita, arm thrust!"

The fighting pokemon began striking at all the pokemon that surrounded it until just one remained: the real Pikachu. At first the fighting type and it's trainer flashed a look of triumph. Then Bulbasaur slid in behind Pikachu.

"Let's finish it." I looked at Dylan and got a nod. "Thunderbolt!"

"Razor leaf!"

Pikachu erupted with lighting again as the razor leaf attack arced around it. The two attacks slammed into Makuhita simultaneously. It stood no chance. It was flung backwards by the lightning, all the while being pummeled by leaves. The fighting type slammed to the ground and didn't get back up.

"Incoming!" Dylan shouted.

Our pokemon scattered as Arbok dove in with a bite attack. The snake pokemon had split them out and now found itself in the middle. It looked from one to the other, decided which it wanted to go after first.

"Thunderbolt!" I yelled.

"Bulbasaur, return!" That was not what I had expected Dylan to say.

The thunderbolt was less dramatic against Arbok. The poison pokemon was clearly a higher level than Makuhita had been. It was still dealt a fair amount of damage.

It was about then that I noticed that the guy had sent out his next pokemon. A black orb floated in the air. It had big white eyes and a red mouth with two fangs sticking out. Surrounding it was a purple cloud.

"A gastly?" I said. "Didn't see that coming."

"They won't see this coming," Dylan muttered as he heaved a poke ball onto the field.

Gyarados came into being on the field with a mighty roar. The two pokemon on the field both moved back slightly in fear and surprise. Pikachu scampered away and to the side of Gyarados.

I decided that it could probably use a nice rest. "Pikachu, return. Grimer, let's go!"

I certainly had some reservations as the pile of goo pokemon burst onto the field. If Gyarados hadn't been it's partner, I probably wouldn't have used the rookie pokemon. It was time to find out just what it was made of. Besides stinky sludge.

"Gyarados, twister!" Dylan bellowed.

Gyardos arched it's body around and then thrust it's head forward. From it's mouth came a mighty tornado. The ghost type Gastly bobbed around in the air, trying to hold on. Arbok had expended too much energy and was cast backwards.

I decided to get in on the action. "Sludge!"

With a flick of a gooey arm, Grimer sent a ball of slime hurtling at Arbok. It smacked the already downed snake pokemon in the face. I flashed Dylan a smile as Arbok didn't get up.

"Clearly that was all Grimer," I joked.

The poisonous pokemon was recalled and what was sent out in it's place was something rather strange. The whole thing was bright pink. It stood on two thick legs with two stubby arms and a thick tail. There were a series of white lines across it's stomach. It also had an enormous tongue that hung out of it's mouth.

"What in the…" I trailed off.

"Lickitung," Dylan identified it with his pokedex. "Those aren't exactly common around here."

"Gastly, night shade on Grimer!"

Clearly they were picking on the weak link. From the eyes of the ghost pokemon came black beams encased in red. They pounded into Grimer and shoved it backwards. The poison pokemon shook it's head-ish area and oozed back forward.

"Lickitung, use lick!"

I expected the big pink pokemon to come running towards us. Instead the big tongue that was hanging out of it's mouth cut through the air. It ran it's tongue all the way up Grimer. Neither pokemon looked happy from the outcome. Grimer seemed rather dazed from the attack. Lickitung looked like it had just tasted something terrible.

"Use dragon rage, Gyarados!"

The yellow energy ball crackled and formed in Gyarados' mouth. It took careful aim and blasted it out. Lickitung was too slow and stocky to dodge. It was caught at the center of the explosion. A smug look crossed Dylan's face. Until the smoke cleared that is. It may have been down on one knee but Lickitung was still in the fight.

I tried to hide my horror and out of the corner of my eye I could see Dylan trying to do the same. Nothing that we had encountered had survived a direct hit from dragon rage. It was becoming abundantly clear that we might be getting in over our heads.

"Grimer, use poison gas!" I called, tried to cover up my shock.

The poison pokemon opened it's mouth and a dark green cloud of gas came pouring out. It drifted over towards the opposing pokemon, blocking our view of them and vice versa. If nothing else, it gave us a moment to think.

"Ideas?" I asked Dylan.

"Nothing new," he replied. "Nothing brilliant. Oh wait… maybe. Hang on. Gyarados, twister!"

Another mighty twister blew forth from Gyarados' mouth. It swept the poison gas across the field, encompassing Lickitung and Gastly in it. Lickitung made a horrible face before being blowing away along with it's partner. Dylan had forced the poison gas upon them. Lickitung was now poisoned and losing strength. Gastly was unfazed by the poison at least.

It was our turn. "Grimer, sludge!"

Grimer started throwing balls of sludge like a professional baseball player. It pelted Lickitung repeatedly, occasionally aiming at Grimer. The ghost pokemon was a harder target to hit and only took one hit. Lickitung was a much stronger pokemon than Grimer but the volley of attacks was beginning to build up.

Something light blue flashed through the air and stopped behind the enemy pokemon. It was Gyarados. I had forgotten it could fly. A ball of yellow energy was crackling between it's teeth.

"Dragon rage!" Dylan bellowed.

I hadn't even realized it but Grimer's sludge attacks had actually forced Lickitung and Gastly together. They were both caught in the dragon-type explosion. This time when the smoke cleared it was more to our liking. Both of the opposing pokemon were on the ground, not moving.

It had been a test but we had won.

We moved across the field and collected our winnings. Despite that they both seemed like nice people, we didn't stick around to chat. We had no illusions that we weren't being watched. Dylan had just gone through two battles and I had just finished my third. We were ripe for the picking.

Dylan grabbed me by the arm and pulled me in a direction. He had seen David and Vanessa. We hurried along.

"That sure was interesting," I said as we walked. "You need to use Gyarados more."

He looked at me. "'Scuse me?"

"This isn't like back home," I continued. "Gyarados was king of the world there. Out here, people have seen them before. They're more experienced. Heck, I've seen very few pokemon that aren't evolved. That was the first time I haven't seen Gyarados finish something off in one attack."

Dylan shrugged. "Maybe you're right but on the other hand, Gyarados needs a lot less training than some of my pokemon. It's able to hold it's own and win handily despite much fewer battles than say… Cyndaquil."

I gave him a shrug back. "I see your point. I guess."

We reached David and Vanessa. They were both still cheery and full of energy. For whatever reason, they hadn't been challenged like I had.

"Isn't this place great?" Vanessa cooed. "So many trainers. I could just battle all day!"

I shot her a terrible look.

"What?" she asked confused. "What happened to you anyway? You're soaked with sweat."

"That happens," I said, mopping my brow. "When you have three consecutive battles. Of all the pokemon I have with me, only one hasn't entered battle."

David gave me a look. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. Even my grimer got some action."

Dylan shook his head. "I don't know how you guys got off light but I bet it'll catch up with you. There's a lot of trainers here that just wait for you to finish one battle and then challenge you immediately. They tried to get Tim twice."

David's eyes narrowed. "You're kidding."

I snorted a laugh. "I wish. I might've been in deep trouble if Dylan hadn't bailed me out and forced the third challenge into a tag battle."

"So what you're saying is that you'd like to get moving?" David had a gleam of amusement in his eyes.

"You could say that."

Dylan and I spent the rest of our time walking at least slightly off the main path. Our pokemon were all tired and we didn't want to risk another battle. David and Vanessa didn't shy away from the main path. They were still up for battling. It almost backfired on them. David narrowly escaped with a win when he went one-on-one with his zubat. A rather tough beautifly took Al to it's limit.

"I see what you mean now," David said to me after the battle. "People are tough here."

Once the sun had set we set up camp. Although it was still warm out, David built a fire to give us light. We sat around the flicking flames, exhausted. I made a face as I munched on some dried fruit. Camping food was getting old. Real old.

The sounds of other trainers still on the move drifted by our ears. We were far enough off the path not to be bothered but not our of earshot. Mostly we heard talking. There was very little battling at night. Once we heard a very nasty laughing. It was cold and heartless. I didn't want to meet whoever it came from.

"Man, just twenty more days of this," Dylan said, not very excitedly.

Vanessa elbowed him in the ribs softly. "Just think of all the training you're getting! Your pokemon will be so strong!"

Dylan gave a short laugh. "I'm not worried about them. I'm worried about me. I can only camp for so many days."

David gazed off into the dark. "Shouldn't there be a city or a town coming up?"

"I saw a sign for it. Three, maybe four days away still."

I grimaced. "So three or four days without a pokemon center."

"Unfortunately, that's probably really the way to look at it." Dylan returned my dour look. "Hopefully our teams can last that long."

"You'll get no sympathy from me," David said with a grin. "You at least have other pokemon you can switch out to. I've got my six and that's it."

"I guess that's one way to look at it." I sighed. "Maybe a good night's rest in their poke balls will do them good."

"Oh, speaking of poke balls, what was the deal with your sandshrew and heracross following you around?" Vanessa asked.

I explained to them what had happened.

"Not really that surprising." David said and then continued after I gave him a look. "That was a young sandshrew when she gave it to you. A fully grown one is like two feet tall. Yours is barely a foot tall. It probably never had battled before."

"That's a good idea having Heracross train it," Vanessa added. "It always seemed like a good battler. Maybe your best."

A smile grew on my face. "Don't let Charmeleon or Grovyle hear you say that. They probably wouldn't take very kindly to that."

Dylan laughed. "All depends on how you look at it. Charmeleon and Grovyle might be your best, but Heracross definitely enjoys itself the most."

"That is the truth."

After a little more idle chitchat, I turned in. I unrolled my sleeping back and flopped down on top of it. With my hands behind my head, I gazed up into the starry sky. We were far enough away from civilization that the stars weren't hidden by the city lights. In a matter of moments I was asleep.

I found myself in a massive forest. Forest didn't really even describe it but it wasn't really a jungle either. Whatever it was, it was beautiful. The trees and other plants were tall and healthy. The skies were perfectly blue with just a few clouds. Sounds leaked out of the foliage making the trees sound alive. It was like people had never been there before. I had never seen anything like it.

With a jerk, I sat up. I was still surrounded by forest but not the massive beautiful forest I had seen. I was back in Illinois or possibly some other state on Trainers' Pass. Whatever I had seen had just been a dream.

I mentioned the dream to Dylan as we were packing our things up.

"No idea," he said, jamming his sleeping bag into his pack. "Doesn't sound like anything I've ever seen. Maybe it's something stress related."

Clouds had filled the sky while we had slept. The threat of rain was imminent. Apparently the idea of getting wet had scared a lot of trainers off. Very few people walked the trail with us. A number of tents lined the path as people were content to wait out the potential rain.

The weather had decide to be favorable to us and never did rain. Around noon the clouds began to dissipate. Sunlight began to peek through and people began to emerge from their tents. Soon the trail was populated again. It was never crowded walking but there was usually at least a few people in view.

And with people came pokemon battles.

I was the last of my friends to be challenged. A middle-aged woman by the name of Michelle had asked me to battle and I accepted. Comprising my team of Charmeleon, Heracross and Pikachu, I assumed I would be in for a fairly non-challenging battle. Charmeleon locked up with a mankey and defeated it with some but not a lot of difficulty. It was more tired than hurt. Heracross went toe to toe with an electabuzz. The bug pokemon had a more drawn out battle but still came out on top.

"You're pretty good," Michelle called to me. "But now we'll find out how good you really are. Always save the best for last. Drapion, go!"

I was completely unprepared for what burst forth from the poke ball. A four-legged monster of alternating sections of violet and lavender stomped forward. It had two long arms with huge pincers at their ends. Two massive fang-like protrusions were in it's mouth that stood atop a long neck. A long tail with another pincer completed the nightmare.

"Holy hell," I muttered as I studied the pokemon with my pokedex.

It was a dual type, poison and dark. That meant that none of the pokemon I was using had any type of advantage but at least none of them were at a disadvantage either. There was a whole lot about the situation that I didn't like. Charmeleon and Heracross could still battle but they definitely needed some rest. That left only one option.

"Heracross, return. Pikachu, you're up!"

The poison pokemon towered over my electric pokemon. Heracross fluttered back over to my side and stood with Sandshrew again. I didn't like the match up but I had to make the best of it.

At least Pikachu had learned some new tricks. "Pikachu, thunderbolt!"

"Drapion, ice fang!"

From Drapion's fangs came a jagged light blue beam. They met the lightning bolts in midair and the two attacks exploded. I shielded my eyes and hoped the explosion was hiding my grimace. My pokemon's most powerful attack had just been neutralized. Not just neutralized but done so with ease.

"Pikachu, iron tail!" I shouted, trying to change things up.

"Drapion, use night slash!" Michelle countered. "Cut it off!"

The four legs that Drapion stood on gave it surprising mobility and speed. It quickly scuttled over and intercepted Pikachu. Given no choice, Pikachu jumped and swung it's tail. Glowing purple, Drapion slashed down with one of it's claws. Pikachu was hacked aside. Again.

Rolling across the ground, Pikachu came up on all fours. It was ready to attack again but I wasn't sure how we were going to do so.

Michelle was sure. "Drapion, shadow ball!"

The two sets of pincers came together in front of the pokemon. A large black ball formed between them that it shoved forward. Black lightning crackled around it as it soared through the air.

"Dodge it!"

Pikachu leapt up. The shadow ball shot beneath it, just barely. It exploded as it touched the ground.

Things were not going how I wanted or had even hoped. Not only was I up against a pokemon I'd never seen before but it was wielding attacks I had never seen before. To top it all off, it was a very strong pokemon as well.

"Well, you know what they say," I said to myself. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall. Pikachu, quick attack!"

Like a shot the electric pokemon closed the distance between it and it's opponent. It crashed into the midsection of Drapion. The poison pokemon took a few steps sideways. Then it's mouth filled with fire and it bit down at Pikachu. There was a fiery explosion that flung Pikachu across our grassy battle field.

"Pikachu!" I cried as the pokemon struggled back to it's feet. "Give it another thunderbolt!"

"Ka-chu!" the pokemon screamed as lightning lanced out from it. This time Drapion wasn't ready and took the full brunt of the attack. It didn't really seem all that fazed by it.

"Drapion, pin missile!"

The two sets of pincers began to glow white. Suddenly they burst into a cloud of white pins that rained down at Pikachu. Things were slowly going from bad to worse.

"Thundershock! Block those pins!"

The electric pokemon erupted with lightning. The electricity flashed everywhere, overloading the energy that was built up in the pins and causing them to explode. Just a few pins made it through. That was the first thing that had gone right so far. Perhaps the tide was turning.

Or not.

"Drapion, night slash!"

Faster than I could've anticipated, Drapion had raced forward. With a back-handed swipe it sent Pikachu flying with the dark-type attack. I tried to get Pikachu reoriented and mount a counter attack but that's when I realized that Drapion was faster than my pokemon.

"Fire fang!"

An explosion hurled Pikachu. The yellow mouse pokemon crashed down and bounced once. It's fur was covered with dirt and soot. It's black eyes found mine. They gave me an apologetic look.

I smiled weakly. "It's not your fault. Take a nice long rest."

It took a moment to sink in but I had just lost a pokemon. Worse yet, I would not be getting to a pokemon center any time soon.

With a deep breath, I pushed those thoughts away and refocused on the battle. "Charmeleon, let's go!"

The fire pokemon looked refreshed from it's previous battle. I knew that it really wasn't. It was just trying to put up a big front. However it was in better shape than Heracross so I really didn't have much of a choice.

"That's what I expected," Michelle said with a nod. "Night slash!"

In that microsecond before Drapion moved, something became clear to me. Up close, Drapion could deal some damage. From afar, the poison pokemon couldn't hurt Charmeleon much. It's ranged attacks were a bug- and ice-type; neither effective against a fire-type. If I could keep Drapion at a distance, I stood a chance.

"Charmeleon, flamethrower!"

Drapion scuttled to it's left to avoid the river of flames. Charmeleon wasn't avoided that easily. It swept it's head along, trailing Drapion. Eventually it caught up and doused the poison pokemon with fire. In the midst of the flames, Drapion reversed direction and burst out of the attack. It's purple exterior was now cooked a bit darker.

"Use thunder fang!" Michelle shouted.

Another close-range attack that I wasn't going to allow. "Dragon rage!"

With the speed that Drapion had closed in, it didn't have a chance to dodge the yellow energy ball. The dragon energy fueled explosion threw Drapion to the side and arched it backwards.

If not for the wicked tail, I would've had Charmeleon jump on it's back. Instead I had it roast the drapion with another flamethrower. I had the poison pokemon on the ropes finally but needed to think of something else to throw at it. Eventually Michelle would figure out how to counter me.

"Ah screw it. Charmeleon, grab onto Drapion!"

The fire pokemon ran forward and then dropped into a baseball slide. Reaching out with it's arms, Charmeleon was now hanging between Drapion's legs. I figured that this would probably throw Michelle for a loop.

"Charmeleon, fire fang!"

A fireball blew up underneath Drapion. The poison pokemon screeched. It's large tail began jabbing at Charmeleon. Another explosion forced Drapion up on it's back legs. The tactic had run it's course.

"Get out of there!" I shouted.

Kicking off, Charmeleon hit the ground and rolled back over to it's feet. Drapion came back down. It rushed at Charmeleon, this time it's fangs crackling with lightning.

"Dodge!"

Drapion slammed it's fangs into the ground that Charmeleon had just occupied. The fire pokemon circled around behind the drapion. I called for another flamethrower.

"Shadow ball!"

I had completely forgotten about that ghost-type attack. The shadowy ball collided with the river of flames. The two attacks exploded in a strangely beautiful black and orange fireball. Suddenly another black ball cut through the explosion and blew up on Charmeleon's chest.

The fire pokemon stumbled back. It stumbled back strangely. Charmeleon almost seemed to be making sure it found it's balance with it's back to me. That's when I saw it: the flame on Charmeleon's tail was growing. It had soon tripled in size.

"Blaze," I muttered with a small smile. "Flamethrower!"

"Shadow ball!"

Charmeleon's effort had not been wasted. The shadow ball stood no chance against the super-sized flamethrower. It pressed into the flames for a moment and then got washed back the other way. Drapion took it's own shadow ball to the chest first. Then the flamethrower completely picked it up off all four of it's feet. The column of fire slammed Drapion into the ground, roasted it for a moment and then disappeared. The fire on Charmeleon's tail shrank back down to it's normal size.

"That was certainly unique," Michelle said as she collected her drapion. "I've never seen a shadow ball reflected like that."

I had to smile. "Me either. I had no idea hat could happen. Maybe it had something to do with Charmeleon using Blaze."

"Blaze?"

"It's Charmeleon's special ability. It boosts it's fire attacks."

Knowing flashed in Michelle's eyes. "Your charmeleon was in more trouble than it was letting on."

I winked. "Let's keep that between you and me."

After we said goodbye and she paid me, I wandered back to the path to try and find my friends. Vanessa was battling with a charmeleon of her own. Apparently her charmander had finally evolved. Dylan and David were standing near her, engaged in conversation with each other.

"What's going on?" I asked as I walked up.

"Nothing," David said with a shrug. "How'd your battle go?"

A sharp pang hit me in the stomach. In the ecstasy of my victory, I had forgotten that I had lost Pikachu. "Well… I won."

Dylan looked at me. "You lost a pokemon?"

A nod. "Pikachu."

He gave me a smile. "Don't feel bad. Cyndaquil went down."

"Really? That's surprising."

"I don't get why you guys think this is so tough," David said with a frown.

Dylan pointed a finger at him. "Don't even start with me again. I don't know how you keep getting lucky with matchups."

I raised an eyebrow in question.

"He went into battle with a squirtle and mankey," Dylan continued. "What did he face? A geodude and a chimchar."

"That's lucky," I said with a shake of my head. "I think. What's a chimchar?

"Little fire monkey pokemon."

"Oh. Yeah. That is lucky then."

During our conversation, Vanessa had finished her match. She had come out on top and was bubbling with excitement.

"Did you see that?" her voice strangely dropping an octave. "I won and Charmander evolved and it just ruined that purugly!"

Dylan and I tried to be supportive but we really weren't in the mood.

It took us a few minutes but we got the group back onto the trail. We didn't talk as much as we had earlier in the day. Whenever there was a group of trainers in passing, Dylan and I would veer off the path. We wanted no part of any trainers for the rest of the day if we could help it.

"I'm surprised how many new types of pokemon we're seeing," Vanessa said, trying to spark a conversation.

I looked at her. "What do you mean?"

"Well I faced a chimchar and didn't you say you faced a grotle?" she replied. "I haven't ever seen those back home or anywhere else."

"I'm not surprised," Dylan said, breaking his longstanding silence. "Not every pokemon can live in Michigan. Lots of them don't even live in the United States."

"Yeah, like that grotle Tim faced," David added. "They're pretty prevalent in Europe I think it is. Only recently have they been introduced into the wild in the U.S.."

"On the flip side, you won't find any charmanders over in Europe," Dylan continued. "For the longest time you couldn't find a mankey in the U.S.. They were only in Africa until the early 1900's."

"I think my pokedex actually reflects that," I said. "Since this is the U.S. model, the pokemon that aren't all that common to the United States have much higher numbers. Although that really doesn't mean much. Starly is pretty far down there but still pretty common around the Midwest."

"I'm not dumb, you know," Vanessa snorted. "I knew that. I was just saying it was a lot of species that I hadn't seen before."

"Could've fooled me." I sped up my pace as she took a swing at me.

The rest of the day passed without incident, as did the next day. Since we weren't being taken to our limits as pokemon trainers, our moods lightened up. Even Dylan and David were talking again.

"How long do you think it takes for a pokemon to get all it's strength back?" I asked my friends. "You know, in a poke ball."

David shrugged. "I don't know. Never tried it. A day or two is what I've heard."

"Not soon enough." Dylan shook his head. "I know what you're thinking. We'll be to a pokemon center by then."

Dylan had seen right through me. He knew I was thinking about Pikachu. I was anxious to get the electric pokemon back into my lineup. I was confident in my first four, really so in my first three. Mudkip still worried me from time to time but not nearly as much as my two vacant spots.

Grimer had faired all right in it's first battle but it had been a double battle. There was no way around that Gyarados had shouldered the bulk of the load in that battle. Sandshrew worried me as well. Heracross seemed to be well suited to teaching the ground pokemon the ways of pokemon battling. It just remained to be seen if those lessons would translate into battle. My other option was Corphish and it least it had some big time experience. However, I already had a water pokemon and it was more adept than the crab pokemon.

"Oh man, I just had a sad thought," David changed the subject.

I raised my eyebrows. "Care to share it?"

"I think we missed the end of the League Tournament."

My shoulders slumped. "Oh man. You're right. The gym leader in Detroit said it'd be going on for another week. It's been what, two weeks?"

"Something like that," Dylan said with a sigh.

"Oh I heard some guys talking about it," Vanessa said airily.

We all turned to her and waited for her to continue.

"I guess that in the finals the guy that won got really lucky with some of his pokemon choices. He got some great matchups. Anyways, the dude got past the first two of the Elite Four and then got smacked around by the third one."

I wrinkled my nose. "Man. Yet another year that the League Champion doesn't face the Tournament Champion. It's been a long time."

David nodded. "Yeah, close to ten years I think."

The rest of the day was less than thrilling. We were clearly getting closer to a pokemon center because our battles were getting easier. Each of us waltzed through a battle with ease. When it got dark, we set up camp. We were hopefully within a day of the next town and pokemon center so we were willing to suffer through camping for another night.

While we were sitting and chatting, I heard something unexpected: a nasty, cold laughter. It was the same laughter that I had heard a few days ago. I glanced around but couldn't find the source. Punctuating the laughter was the sound of blows being struck.

I looked over at Dylan. "Do you hear that?"

He made an uncomfortable face. "Yeah, unfortunately. Whoever that is laughing is not someone that someone that I want to hang out with."

"I'm more worried about those other sounds. They sound like attacks."

"I guess we just hope we don't meet up with them."

Night came and went quickly. I slept but not well. Ever since we had gotten onto Trainers' Pass, the quality of my sleep had drastically dropped. Although none of the others would admit it, theirs was too. They all tossed and turned and mumbled in their sleep or attempts to do so.

The next day as we continued our journey, I decided that if I ever grew to be famous and wrote my memoirs, I would leave much of this walking junk out of. All this walking around was starting to get really boring. Sure I had people to talk to but we only had so much to talk about. Most of it wouldn't be worth putting in a book anyway.

"You look kind of distant," Vanessa said, breaking into my thoughts.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. I was mentally composing my memoirs."

She laughed.

"No seriously. I'm thinking of leaving a lot of Trainers' Pass out."

She looked at me. "Why? Haven't you had some good battles?"

I shrugged. "Well, yeah. Those will get in. All this walking won't. No offense to you guys but we really haven't had any conversations worth putting in a book lately."

David who had been listening too laughed. "I almost feel like you should put this conversation into it."

Our walking continued. David and Vanessa had drifted to the rear of our group. Dylan and I walked a couple yards in front of them. None of us had said anything in quite some time. Not only were we running low on things to talk about but we were getting tired of each other. Dylan and David hadn't really spoken in days. After each battle I had grown more stressed and David and Vanessa would leave me alone for a while afterwards. Not talking was probably the best thing we could do.

Dylan suddenly stopped. "What was that?"

Before I could ask what he had heard, I heard it for myself. That cold, cruel laughter that we had heard last night floated through the air. Dylan took off running towards the source. I was hot on his heels, my pack painfully bouncing with every step.

Off the main path we found a clearing occupied by two pokemon and one person. The person was a short red-haired guy with a goatee. The smaller of the pokemon was dark blue with two strange orange spots on it's cheeks that seemed to inflate. There were dark rings around it's eyes and it's feet and hands were black except for the orange center finger of it's three. White bands ran around it's waist and it's teeth stuck out a little.

The bigger pokemon looked like it might be an evolution of the smaller but really scary. It was the same color but nearly twice the size. It had piercing yellow eyes instead of white and instead of orange middle fingers it had big red claws. Black lines encircled it's eyes and traced down it's sides to where the shoulders and hips were encircled as well. A huge red sac hung underneath it's chin and inflated and deflated.

"Toxicroak, poison jab again!" the guy yelled. "Teach Croagunk a lesson for being useless!"

The red claws on the bigger pokemon began to glow purple. It pulled it's arm back and then lunged at the smaller pokemon called Croagunk. The sound of the strike was way too familiar. It was the same noises we had heard last night.

Before I could say anything, Dylan was running again. I didn't get a chance to see his eyes but I'm pretty sure they were filled with fight. I chased after him again. I wasn't much use in a fight. He was built up by years of being on the swim team. Being in the marching band hadn't been as helpful. I figured I could offer moral support if nothing else.

Dylan rammed the red-haired guy at full speed with his shoulder. The guy went stumbling backwards and fell to the ground. Toxicroak and Croagunk froze and looked at us, one about to strike and the other cowering. Dylan pulled back a fist. Putting on the breaks, I reached around his back and locked one of my arms around his and my other around his neck to hopefully immobilize him.

"What the hell's your problem?" the guy on the ground spat.

"What the hell's my problem?" Dylan spat. "What the hell's your problem? You're beating up on a pokemon for no reason!"

"There's a reason," the guy said, getting back up. "It's weak and useless."

Hearing that, I let go of Dylan. He could pound this guy now for all I cared.

"That's not how to raise a pokemon." Dylan was also trembling with rage. "Beating on a pokemon that has lost a battle is the coward's way. You don't deserve Croagunk."

The red-haired guy stuck his chin out. "Yeah, well, what are you going to do about it?"

"I'll battle you. I win and you give up Croagunk."

"Ha, you wish," the guy laughed. "You just want a worthless pokemon for free."

"I didn't say I'd get Croagunk if I won." Dylan was breathing slowly, trying to taper his anger. "I said you'd give up Croagunk, as in free it. If it wants to come with me, I'd welcome it. Anything to keep it away from you.

This appealed to the guy. "Alright but not now. My toxicroak is tired for taking out the trash. There's a town less than a day away from here. I'll battle you tomorrow at noon."

Dylan nodded slowly. "I'll end you there then. It doesn't matter where."

He raised two poke balls and aimed them at his pokemon. Except one of them was now aimed at me. While they had been talking, I had stepped in front of Croagunk. The laser from the ball touched me and instantly faded.

I raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? You aren't taking Croagunk with you. You'd just run off like the chicken-shit you are. Croagunk comes with us."

Anger flashed in the guy's eyes. "You…"

Toxicroak moved in but was cut off. A cubone and mankey had stepped into it's way. Vanessa and David had caught up to us. The big poison pokemon considered attacking anyway but reconsidered. The guy recalled it to it's ball.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he said with a huff and was gone.

As I explained what had happened to Vanessa and David who had arrived late, Dylan and Croagunk just looked at each other. A mixture of emotions ran through the pokemon's eyes. First relief at being rescued. Then pain for being left by it's trainer and then confusion as to the whole situation. It couldn't seem to comprehend just what had happened to it.

Dylan responded by releasing Croconaw and explaining what happened. "Tell Croagunk that I'm not a bad guy. I'm not stealing it. Just trying to get it out of a bad situation."

Croconaw began to chatter away as we started walking again. Croagunk hesitated for a moment but then reluctantly followed. Once I was sure the whole group was moving, I pulled out my pokedex to study the new pokemon. It turned out to be a unique poison and fighting combination. Only it and it's evolution of toxicroak had that particular type affiliation.

If Dylan did win it's freedom, I might have to make a play to catch it.

We had to move at a pretty good clip to keep up with Dylan. He was still fueled by rage. Croconaw still talked to Croagunk and as far as I could tell, had gotten no verbal response. My legs were starting to burn trying to keep up with the brisk pace.


	24. Chapter 24

"Don't even bother." The first words I heard Dylan speak.

At first I was confused but then I noticed a fifth person had fallen in step with us. It was a younger girl trying to talk to Dylan. I wasn't entirely sure what they were talking about at first. Her disgusted look finally clued me in: Dylan had violated the unwritten rule and denied a battle.

I caught up with him as the girl stalked off. "I can't believe you just did that."

"Got more important things to worry about," he mumbled.

I shook my head. "You can't go around denying battles. That's against the rules."

He fixed me with a stare. "Feel free to battle. I need to concentrate on beating that asshole."

"You don't even know what pokemon he has!"

"Doesn't matter. Still need a game plan."

"Hey, I'm on your side. Keep that in mind."

I knew a lost cause when I saw it. I let him pull back out in front again. Instead, I fell into step with Croagunk and Croconaw.

"So what do you think?" I asked the poison pokemon.

I got an empty stare in return.

"Ooook." I let the two pokemon go on by themselves. I ran with a weird crowd.

Dylan continued to deny challenges as we walked. People were beginning to get mad. Somehow word had traveled up ahead of us that someone was turning down battles and violating the sacred rule of Trainers' Pass. People were getting progressively more angry as we went.

Finally everything came to a head near dark. A man was standing in the middle of the path, arms crossed. He was clearly waiting for us. His eyes were immediately locked with Dylan's.

"Are you the one who is violating the rules of Trainers' Pass?" he asked.

"I was unaware there was a contract I signed when I stepped onto the Pass," Dylan shot back. "Who are you?"

"I'm the Guardian of the Pass," the newcomer declared. "I keep the balance of the Pass. You are upsetting the balance of things. You will battle me to restore the balance."

A sneer formed on Dylan's face. He wasn't going to battle. "What if I don't?"

"I can and will remove you from the Pass. You will not be allowed to return. Your friends will be exiled along with you."

That was really not what I wanted to hear. We'd miss out on a lot of experience if we were booted off the Pass. Judging from the expression on Dylan's face, that's what was about to happen.

"Hold on there Chief." I stepped in front of Dylan. "Maybe there's something else we can do."

The Guardian just looked at me. He raised an eyebrow.

"What if I battle on his behalf? He's got something else on his mind that's preventing him from concentrating on any battle except his one tomorrow."

The Guardian considered this. He put a gnarled hand to his bearded chin. "You would take the place of your friend? Your bond of friendship is that strong?"

I shrugged. "Sure. He'd do the same thing for me if I had something this big on my mind."

Dylan looked at me. "You sure about this?"

"Yeah. Get going." I gave him a nod.

"Hold on," the guardian called. "He isn't going to even watch?"

"He has something else important to take care of. I'm taking care of this so he can do that."

The Guardian looked miffed but knew there was nothing he could do about it. "Do not travel alone," he advised. "The Pass is not a place for a lone trainer."

Clearly the old man was right. There really wasn't much of a choice on how to divide ourselves. David and Dylan had been at odds for days now so David stayed with me and Vanessa went with Dylan. David wasn't thrilled about this but understood that it was necessary.

"Hey, come here for a second." I waved the Guardian over once Dylan and Vanessa had put some distance between us.

He obliged me. "Yes?"

I explained to him why Dylan was acting the way he was and how normally he'd never turn down a battle. The elder trainer listened in grim silence. I could tell he was beginning to understand what was really going on.

"In that case, I offer you alternative," the Guardian said after I was done.

"Sure, what's that?"

"We both are fighting for honor. I battle for the honor of the Pass. You battle for the honor of your friend. I propose to you that this battle have no money change hands. That it be a friendly battle. One to be enjoyed by both sides."

I smiled. "I like that idea."

His eyes twinkled. "One other request?"

There was a moment of hesitation on my part. "Go for it."

"One of my pokemon that I have had for quite some time has evolved recently. I have yet to test it in battle despite still training with it. I would like to see what it is capable of so I am proposing that I only use it and you use two pokemon."

If there had been money on the line I would've immediately assumed he was up to something. With really nothing to lose besides the battle, I couldn't find any fault with it.

"Do I still need to select my pokemon ahead of time?" I asked.

He waved a hand. "Just the first. The second you can choose at the time of need."

I looked at David and he just offered a shrug. "Ok, let's do it then."

We separated and moved to a dirt patch off to the side of the main path. I released Heracross and Sandshrew to watch, like I had explained to the Guardian that I would.

"I wonder if this guy even has the authority to throw us off the Pass," David thought aloud.

"Not really worth the risk, is it?" I retorted.

"Guess not."

I could see that the Guardian was ready, his poke ball in hand. Without much hesitation, I plucked my first pokemon from my belt. Charmeleon burst onto the field.

"Ah, excellent. A fire type," the Guardian purred. "A good test. Metang, I need your assistance!"

David and I exchanged shrugs as we looked at this new pokemon. It's main body was disk-shaped with a smaller one on top. It had two red eyes and a spike in between that I took to be a nose. Two large three-clawed hands were attached to the body by thin arms. It had no use for legs as it floated in the air. It's silvery metal complexion gave it away as a steel-type but my pokedex also told me that Metang was also a psychic-type.

"Well if nothing else, you started with the right pokemon," David said. "It's only going to be weak to fire and ground moves."

I frowned as I looked at Charmeleon. The fire pokemon showed no ill affects from it's previous battles. Having refrained from using it at all yesterday, I knew it had to be fairly refreshed. Still, there was no way it was one-hundred percent. It dawned on me that the Guardian probably knew this as well which is why he wanted to go two-on-one.

"Let's get this started right!" I called to my pokemon. "Flamethrower!"

"Confusion!"

As the flames burned through the air, something different happened. They were suddenly outlined in purple as a purple glow filled Metang's red eyes. The psychic pokemon lifted it's arms and then thrust them to the side like it was tossing something aside. The flamethrower was flung to the side in a perfect mimicry of what Metang had just done, not even reaching the steely psychic.

As I digested my first look at a psychic attack, something else happened. "Bullet punch!"

Metang's arms suddenly cocked backwards and glowed red. They must have somehow given it a speed boost because suddenly it was racing through the air at high speeds. It swung it's arms around and buried the first into Charmeleon's gut. The second it swung like an uppercut, lifting my pokemon off it's feet.

"Oh crap," I muttered as Charmeleon crashed to the ground. "Dragon rage!"

From it's prone position, the fire pokemon's head swung up. The yellow ball of energy crackled in it's mouth. Metang was ready for the quick counter attack. The steel pokemon was briefly lost in the explosion.

"Steel pokemon are resistant to dragon-type moves!" David shouted to me as Metang emerged from the explosion.

"Bullet punch!" the Guardian yelled.

"Fire fang!" I countered.

This time Charmeleon was ready for the speedy steel attack. It barely managed to sidestep the first glowing red punch. With fire curling in it's mouth, Charmeleon bit down on Metang. Another explosion was the result. This time Metang was tossed back out of the fireball.

"Flamethrower!" I shouted as Charmeleon burst out of the explosion.

"Flash cannon!" the Guardian replied.

Still sailing backwards, Metang moved it's hands close. Between them, a glowing ball that shimmered with a silver and white light formed. With a jolt, Metang stopped it's backwards movement. The ball exploded outwards into a beam. It slammed into the oncoming flamethrower and detonated.

I shielded my eyes from the brilliant orange and silver explosion. As I waited to be able to see, I remembered what the Guardian had said about having this pokemon for a long time. It clearly showed. Despite having a type weakness, it was matching Charmeleon blow for blow.

"Metal claw!" the Guardian ordered.

"Dodge it!"

Through the diminishing explosion, the metang emerged. Claws aglow with white energy it took a swipe at Charmeleon. The fire pokemon bent back, just barely dodging. It then spun to it's right and the next claw slammed into the ground.

"Right where we want them," I muttered. "Flamethrower!"

Charmeleon whipped it's head around and basted the metang with fire.

"Confusion!"

A purple outline suddenly covered Charmeleon and hurled it back like it had hit by a truck. The aim of it's flamethrower was thrown askew, revealing a slightly charred Metang. If it showed emotions, I would assume it was none too happy.

"Take down!" the Guardian commanded.

Metang chased after Charmeleon, a golden aura in it's wake. Charmeleon rolled through it's fall but was plastered back into the ground as soon as it came back up. Metang floated above my pokemon, unmoving.

"Charmeleon, return!" I called.

The fire pokemon still had some fight left in it but I hoped with some rest, it could build up some more. That just left me with the decision of what pokemon to use next. Grovyle's grass attacks would do minimal damage. Heracross was actually at a type disadvantage and would probably get smacked around. Water pokemon didn't affect the advantage balance either way. Grimer would have no affect at all.

"Cross!"

I looked back at Heracross and cocked an eyebrow. "It's a psychic pokemon. You're at a disadvantage."

The bug pokemon shook it's head. Then it nudged it's shoulder towards the pokemon next to it. That presented an interesting idea. Sandshrew, while very young and inexperienced, would hold an offensive type advantage over Metang. Since there was really nothing riding on the match, I had nothing to lose and everything to gain.

"Alright, you're on," I said to Heracross before turning to Sandshrew. "You're up little guy. Time to see what you've learned."

The ground pokemon didn't move at first. It almost didn't seem to realize that I had been talking to it. Then it suddenly perked up and scampered onto the field. As it glanced over it's shoulder, both Heracross and I gave it a thumbs up.

"A young sandshrew," the Guardian mused. "How interesting. Metang, bullet punch!"

The steel pokemon rocketed towards Sandshrew.

"Dig!"

Sandshrew jumped up and dove at the ground. It was almost like watching a diver dive into a pool how easily it disappeared into the soil. Metang screeched to a halt. Clearly it had not been expecting that from a young sandshrew. It swiveled in the air as it tried to find my pokemon.

My pokemon found Metang. Sandshrew came rocketing out of the ground lead by it's curled fist. It looked very epic as it slammed right into Metang's face. _Looked _epic. The steel pokemon didn't even budge.

"Hera?" Heracross squawked. "Heracross!"

"Back underground!" I yelled.

Sandshrew kicked off of Metang and dove back into the earth.

"Perhaps too young?" the Guardian asked, a playful note to his voice.

"Only one way to find out." I shrugged. "Now!"

Sandshrew burst from the ground again, this time both fists were curled. Metang rocked slightly as it was caught on it's "chin". Sandshrew dropped back to the ground and gave me a worried look. I returned it.

"Finish it Metang!" the Guardian called. "Metal claw!"

"Sand-attack!"

My pokemon began pawing at the ground, sending dirt and sand and whatever else into the air. Soon a healthy cloud of dust covered a small chunk of the field and, more importantly, Sandshrew. Metang halted it's attack. It floated above the dirt cloud with it's claws still glowing.

"An excellent diversion," the Guardian commended me. "For a pokemon this inexperienced to still be holding on speaks to your skill as a trainer. Unfortunately, it's time to end this. Flash cannon into the center of the cloud!"

"Flamethrower!" I yelled.

The old man had a confused look on his face. "Huh?"

A spout of flames erupted from the dirt cloud and speared Metang out of the sky, much to everyone's surprise except for anyone on my side of the cloud.

As soon as the dirt cloud had concealed Sandshrew, I had recalled it. While the Guardian had been talking I had released Charmeleon back out into the cloud. It was a bit of a sneaky trick but I wanted to win.

"Flash cannon!"

The silvery-white beam exploded out from Metang and pushed the flamethrower back some. Inch by inch, the steel-type beam became longer, pushing the flamethrower back towards Charmeleon. Soon the impact point of the two attacks was perfectly in the center of them.

Then something unexpected happened.

"Confusion!"

Not breaking off it's beam, Metang's eyes filled with that purple psychic energy. The flames of my flamethrower did the same. Suddenly the flamethrower was wrenched to the side. The flash cannon had a clear path and took it.

I could just barely make out the silhouette of Charmeleon at ground zero of the explosion. When the blast cleared, the fire pokemon was crumpled on the ground.

"Charmeleon!" I screamed pointlessly. The pokemon was out cold.

"Hold your head high," the Guardian called to me. "With a tired pokemon you put up an admirable battle. As long as you did your best there is no reason to be sad."

Easy for him to say, his pokemon wasn't laying in a heap on the ground.

I forced a smile. "Sure. You win. I'm not going to subject Sandshrew to being swatted around by your metang."

"Mind if I step in then?"

Flinching, I had all but forgotten that David was with me. He held up a poke ball.

"Well?"

The Guardian smiled. "Sure. No harm in some more fun."

I gave David a look as we switched spots. "Just so you know, if this were any other situation, I'd be annoyed at you stepping in."

"Yeah, but it's not." He shrugged.

"Just saying." And left it at that.

I wasn't surprised in the least as David released his pokemon. A squirtle named Vlad now stood facing Metang. I guess I couldn't blame him. Charmeleon had most likely done the brunt of the work. It'd be easy experience for Vlad.

That didn't mean I had to like it though.

"A water type, eh?" the Guardian observed. "This should be fun. Bullet punch!"

David was ready. "Bubble!"

A steady jet of bubbles flowed onto the field. Very quickly there was a cloud of bubbles between the two pokemon. Metang couldn't get to Vlad without losing speed and taking damage.

Or so I thought.

The purple psychic aura encompassed the bubbles and they began to move back at Vlad. David and his pokemon were shocked. I could only imagine that the Guardian's metang was following close behind the bubbles probably just like David had planned to do.

A hole was forced open in the center of the cloud. Metang rocketed through and landed it's bullet punch. Vlad was thrown back. Metang's eyes flared and all the bubbles behind it popped.

Maybe David didn't have it as easy as I thought he might.

Vlad quickly righted itself. I suddenly wondered if David was in the same boat I had been during my battle, facing a psychic pokemon for the first time. Knowing him and Vlad, they had prepared for this inevitability though.

"Metal claw!" called the older trainer and Metang was on top of Vlad in an instant.

"Withdraw!" David countered.

Metang slashed down as Vlad pulled it's body inside it's shell. Vlad's compact form didn't even have time to drop to the ground. The steel pokemon's slash made it spin in the air like a coin.

"Water gun!" David shouted.

From the hole that I assumed the head normally came out of came a blast of water. As Vlad spun in the air, the jet of water slammed into Metang over and over. Right before the shell touched ground, Vlad's appendages reappeared. The water pokemon landed upright and soaked Metang again.

Metang swooped back and away, getting free of the water attack. Water attacks weren't as effective as fire ones but Vlad had still done some damage.

"Squirt," Vlad said and looked at David.

David gave it a solemn nod.

I was about to ask what that was about when Vlad erupted in white light. Vlad was evolving! It grew quite a bit taller and filled out some. It's tail grew longer and more flowing somehow. Two strange things sprouted from it's head, looking much like angel wings. When the light faded I could see that it's skin had become a deeper blue. It's tail and the things on it's head were white and actually fur I realized. Three claws were also now recognizable on it's hands.

I shot David a look. "That's why you wanted to step in. You knew Vlad was about to evolve!"

He gave me a knowing smile.

As the battle resumed, I pulled out my pokedex. Most people didn't give their pokemon nicknames and called them by their species. David was making it difficult on me. I eventually discovered that Vlad had evolved into a wartortle, the turtle pokemon. I was pretty sure that was the same classification a squirtle had but I guess that made sense.

"Metang, take down!"

David held his ground as the metang raced through the air. Vlad stood calmly, waiting for and trusting David.

"Protect!"

Vlad crossed it's arms across it's body. An orb of green energy sprang forth and completely shielded Vlad. Metang was moving to fast. It slammed into the green barrier and ricocheted off completely out of control.

"Now Vlad!" David yelled. "Water pulse!"

The green barrier disappeared as Vlad pulled it's hands back to it's right side. A glowing blue ball formed between them, growing larger with every passing moment. Right as Metang hit the ground, Vlad thrust the ball forward. Metang was caught completely off guard. The ball exploded in a big watery burst.

I gave a small whistle, impressed by this new move.

"Once more!" David called.

Metang struggled to get back up. It was too slow. Another watery explosion sent it skipping back across the field. The steel-type pokemon finally slid to a stop a few yards to the left of it's trainer. It's red eyes had gone dim.

"Well done!" the Guardian exclaimed. "Everyone involved!"

It was by far the happiest I had ever seen someone be in a loss. David collected his newly evolved pokemon and we walked over to talk to the Guardian.

"That was very much worth letting your friend go," the older man said jollily to me. "That was the most fun I've had in a while. If I'd battled him, it would've been serious. I do regret what I did to your Charmeleon."

I waved him off. It was hard to be sad when he was so happy. "It would've happened eventually. No pokemon is unstoppable."

"You are an interesting story as well," the Guardian said, turning to David. "So ruthless and cunning, yet a good soul behind it all. Truly you will become a great trainer one day."

A smile flickered onto David's face. "You mean I'm not yet?"

We all laughed.

The Guardian patted him on the shoulder. "Not yet. Had your… Vlad faced Metang one-on-one without the aid of Charmeleon's damage, I think my pokemon most likely would've prevailed."

"Yeah so don't be going around 'Oh yeah, I beat the Guardian'," I chuckled. "It was a group effort. I get some credit too."

After a few more minutes of talk, we departed. The Guardian gave us permission to deny battles if we wanted but only until we reached our friends. We thanked him and got on our way. The sun was well into it's descent. Not really wanting to be wandering about in the dark, we picked up our pace.

"Man, they must have really been moving at a good pace," I said as our pace was nearing a jog.

"Dylan was moving pretty quickly," David conceded. "Like that guy wasn't going to be waiting for him anyway."

"He might not be. He didn't seem too attached to his croagunk anyway."

"Then what's the big deal?"

"Well now it's just a matter of pride."

I was pretty sure I saw David roll his eyes but I bit my tongue. Arguing wasn't going to help anything. Instead I concentrated on checking the campsites along the side of the path for our friends.

It was more than an hour later when we finally came upon their campsite. A small fire already crackled with Dylan and Vanessa sitting very close to each other, reading from Dylan's pokedex. A few feet to the right of them, Croagunk sat on the ground. Although it showed no emotions, I could almost sense it's enjoyment at being out of a poke ball and enjoying nature.

David cleared his throat in a loud, dramatic way when we approached. "What are you doing?"

"She's trying to identify a pokemon she saw that trainer with." Dylan fixed him with a look.

"Yeah, maybe but what are you doing?"

I could see where this was going and I didn't like it.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Dylan stood. Their eyes locked and neither had good intentions. I could maybe stop one of them but there was no way I could prevent the two of them from going at it. This was going to end poorly.

Vanessa stood and sighed. She put a hand on David's chest. "Come on. If you're going to be like this, we'll camp somewhere else."

For a moment he resisted, then David let Vanessa push him off into the settling nighttime. Left alone with Dylan, I dropped to the ground and started unpacking my things. I didn't mention the interaction and neither did he.

"So what was that pokemon you were trying to identify?" I asked.

Dylan blinked a few times, coming back to the moment. "I don't know. Vanessa only caught a quick glimpse of it. She said it was small, had four legs and was yellow and spiky."

I let the description sink in and I fished around for food in my bag. Settling on what was left of my peanut butter and bread, I made a sandwich. As I chewed I ran over the description in my head again.

"Joolteun."

"What?" Dylan asked. "Try swallowing before you talk. Didn't your mom teach you anything?"

Shooting him a look, I choked down my food. "Jolteon. That description matches a jolteon."

Dylan picked his pokedex back up and pulled up the pokemon. "Wow, yeah, you're right. That must be it!"

"So now you know, what, two of that guy's pokemon?"

He shrugged. "Yeah."

"Going with the s.w.a.g. approach I take it?"

He gave me a look.

I grinned. "Sophisticated wild ass guess. Heard my dad say that once."

Dylan laughed. "Yeah. I guess so."

We didn't talk much for the rest of the night. Dylan played around with his pokedex, trying to figure out what his best options were going to be to beat that guy. I most just looked up at the sky. There wasn't really much else for me to do. Every once in a while I'd offer up my two cents if asked but that was about it.

About thirty feet away, I could faintly hear Vanessa and David. They seemed to have resolved their differences. Now I just had to hope that Dylan and David could resolve theirs. Trainers' Pass was beginning to become more than we had bargained for.

The sun peaking over the horizon and forced me into opening my eyes. I groaned and rolled over. Morning came way too early when you didn't have a roof over your head. Dylan was already up. I understood that we needed to be to the pokemon center by noon but noon was probably five hours away still.

"Let's go," he said, seeing I was awake.

I groaned again.

Sadly, I knew I wasn't going to be able to get back to sleep. Once I sat up and realized how sore my back was it suddenly didn't seem all bad. I tried to massage it but to no avail.

"Suddenly driving or taking the bus everywhere is seeming like a better idea," I muttered. Looking up at the clouds moving to cover the sun, I became more convinced.

"Wuss," Dylan snorted.

"Shut up."

I jammed the rest of my things into my pack and slung it onto my pack. Wavering a little as I stood, I followed after Dylan. I let out a mighty groan and stretch and then caught up with him. Croagunk was walking next to Dylan, still carrying the blanket he had lent the pokemon to sleep with last night. It was kind of cute.

As we neared the camp of the others, I asked "Do you want to wait for the others?"

He shook his head and we continued past. I waved at David who was awake and tried to communicate in hand signals that we were going on to the pokemon center. He nodded. He either understood or thought I had gone insane overnight. I was leaning towards understood though.

If we had known how close we had actually been to the pokemon center last night I probably would've insisted we have kept walking. We walked through the doors well before our noon deadline. A couple extra hours of walking would've been worth it to sleep in an actually bed.

The center was not really busy which surprised me. Dylan and I both walked right up to the main desk to have our pokemon healed. I could only imagine that this place had to get really busy during the day. While I waited, I made use of the free computer terminal and shot off a few emails. One to my mom to let her know that we were still alive. After a moment's consideration I attached Dylan's mom to the email as well. Then I sent another more detailed email to Professor Oak, also detailing our adventures so far.

The nurse brought me my pokemon. I thanked her as I took them. It felt much better having a fully healed team on my belt. I had been getting tired if wondering if the next battle would be the one that I have to pay someone on. I turned to say something to Dylan and realized that he wasn't anywhere nearby.

I peered throughout the center but to no avail. Frowning, I went back outside. At first there didn't seem to be any sign of him out there either. Then I caught sight of something light blue flash over the top of the pokemon center. It took me a second to connect the dots but I realized that it had been Gyarados.

Rounding the building, I found Dylan. Croagunk stood next to him, an emotion on it's face that I couldn't place. In front of them stood Gyarados, Croconaw, Cyndaquil, Bulbasaur, Zigzagoon and Elekid. Croconaw turned to look at me while the others ignored me. I patted it on the head as I rounded the group to stand behind Dylan.

Dylan had been speaking the entire time. I finally tuned into what he was saying.

"That's why we're having this battle. No pokemon deserves to be treated that way! We're not just fighting for the freedom and rights of Croagunk, but for all mistreated pokemon everywhere!"

The pokemon all voiced their agreement and Dylan motioned for them to keep it down. "We don't want our opponent to see or hear any of you. Yet. We want the element of surprise."

"Nice little speech there," I said as he started putting his pokemon away.

He nodded. "I just wanted them to understand that this wasn't a normal battle. There was a lot more riding on it."

Once they were all back in their balls, Dylan glanced at his phone. He snapped it open and then shut. "I'll be back."

With that, he rounded the corner of the building, leaving Croagunk with me. I paused for a few moments. Whatever he was doing, he seemed to not want to share it with me so I honored that. After about a minute past I walked back around to the front of the building.

I leaned up against the wall by the door and checked the clock on my phone. There was still around an hour left until the showdown was due to begin. In the back of my mind, I wondered if this guy was even going to show up. He didn't really seem to have any strong attachment to his croagunk. The only thing that might make him show up was to avenge his pride.

Off in the distance, David and Vanessa crept into view followed by some dark clouds. Neither of them looked particularly happy about having been left behind or at least that what I assumed it was. I gave them a nod of acknowledgment as they got closer. Two nods were returned my way.

"Where's Dylan?" David asked, much to my surprise.

"I dunno." I shrugged. "He said he'd be right back. I think he's inside."

David said nothing. Vanessa took him by the hand and pulled him inside the pokemon center. Once again, I leaned against the wall alone.

Not more than ten minutes later, a person appeared around the other corner of the building. It took a split-second before I recognized the fiery red hair and goatee. It was Dylan's thus far unnamed opponent. His eyes met mine and I saw the recognition. We visually locked up like angry tauros. I hoped that in my unwashed state and scraggly beard that I presented at least a semi-threatening image. Our eyes stayed locked his entire trip to the door. He fumbled for the handle, not willing to break the gaze. Eventually he found the handle and disappeared inside.

I smiled. This was going to be good.

A few minutes Dylan emerged from the doors, staring back over his shoulder. Clearly he had also seen his opponent arrive. He kept walking and staring until he realized that he was getting away from the place he needed to be. I caught his eye and he walked over to me.

"Well?" I prompted.

"I talked one of the off-duty nurses into being our referee," he said. "That way neither of us can claim a biased official."

I nodded. "Smart."

"Guess his name is Collin too."

"Not surprised."

David and Vanessa emerged from the center doors. I waved them over.

"It's almost time," David said, looking up at the sun. "Noon's almost here. Should probably find an actual place to battle."

"I'll handle that," I said and walked off. Dylan needed to stay and wait for Collin and leaving just one of the others with him might be asking for trouble.

It didn't take me long to find them a suitable battle site. On the backside of the pokemon center, about thirty feet out, was a mostly barren patch of land. Handfuls of grass were littered about but you couldn't call it grassy. No trees were nearby nor was there any water. A slight breeze rustled what grass there was. The terrain favored the least amount of pokemon types and was probably the best we were going to get.

Back on the front side of the center, Collin and the nurse had joined the group. The nurse was a slim, dark haired woman that couldn't be much older than we were. She didn't look to be especially thrilled to be using her off-time to officiate a pokemon battle. Dylan must have explained the situation to convince her. Collin stood a few feet away, an icy glare on his face.

I trotted over and told them of the suitable field I had found. After I described it, Collin begrudgingly admitted that it was the same area he was going to suggest they use. He clearly didn't like me much more than Dylan and I was ok with it. I fell back in with the group as Collin lead us over.

"Hey, do you want to borrow Heracross or any of my pokemon?" I asked Dylan quietly. "I know you were hesitant to use Zigzagoon which really only gives you five pokemon. It knows aerial ace which would be good against that toxicroak.

He shook his head.

"You sure?" I was skeptical.

He waved me off. "Thanks but I'm good."

The nurse, Sarah, stood off to the side in what she decided was the middle of the area. Dylan and Collin each took a side and moved to about forty yards apart. Myself and the others stood together by Sarah on Dylan's half of the field. I had offered to stand with Dylan and be his corner man but he told me to keep Croagunk company on the sidelines.

"Alright then," Sarah said, stepping forward as she tied her hair back. "This will be a six-on-six battle between Dylan and Collin to decide the freedom of Croagunk! Substitutions are allowed. When the first trainer has lost three pokemon, we will take a three minute break!" She flipped a coin into the air. "Dylan is heads and Collin tails… Heads! Dylan, send out the first pokemon!"

Dylan took a deep breath and then adjusted his glasses. I realized that as far as I knew, this would be his first full battle. I was curious to see what his team would be. Four spots were obvious but the last two allowed for some intrigue.

"Elekid, let's go!"

My eyebrows raised. That was not the pokemon I had expected him to start off with. The plug-shaped pokemon was young and inexperienced if my sandshrew was any example. The black and yellow electric pokemon had a nasty sneer on it's face. Clearly, it was ready for battle.

Collin thought for a moment. "Gligar, go!"

This was even more surprising to me. I knew of gligars. They were smallish and purple. A webbing ran between their arms that ended in pincers and their legs that allowed them to glide. They also had a nasty looking stinger on their tails. I had never actually seen one in person. Dylan clearly hadn't either as he had his pokedex out.

What surprised me the most though, was that Dylan attacked. "Swift!"

Elekid flexed it's arms so it's fists were up by it's horns and then opened it's mouth. Glowing stars fired out, spinning towards Gligar.

"Gligar, poison sting!"

Gligar jumped into the air and apparently caught an air current as it began to rise. It's tail swung down between it's legs and the stinger aimed at the incoming swift attack. A series of glowing purple needles sprayed out. Collin's attack intercepted Dylan's attack and the two detonated in a small array of explosions.

"Why do you look so concerned?" Vanessa asked me as Gligar swooped down to the ground and clouded the area with a sand attack.

"Gligars are ground- and flying-types," I replied. "Elekid is an electric-type. It's most powerful attacks can't hurt a gligar.

"Elekid, quick attack!" Dylan shouted. "Get rid of that sand!"

The electric pokemon crouched down and then raced into the sandy cloud, a white streak behind it. The speed it generated cut the cloud in two and started it dissipating. Gligar, however, hovered just above Elekid.

"Fury cutter!"

Suddenly Gligar's pincers glowed with a red and white energy and almost seemed to enlarge in size. It dropped down a few feet to the ground and then hit Elekid with a rising swipe. As the electric pokemon staggered back, Gligar swooped around to it's other side. This time it swung down first, dropping Elekid to one knee and then gave it another uppercut swing that sent it stumbling backwards.

I grimaced. Three consecutive hits had increased the power of the fury cutter attack a lot by now. Something like eight times as powerful as the first strike if I had figured it right but I had long ago learned never to rely on my math skills.

"Thundershock!"

Elekid whirled it's arms around in a circle and then a stream of lightning blasted out from it's horns. At first I couldn't see the point of it as it couldn't hurt the gligar. Then it became clear that Dylan was only aiming for a certain part of the gligar: the advancing claws. The lightning held the advancing fury cutter at bay until finally Gligar was thrown off balance.

Suddenly Dylan saw an opening. "Quick attack!" Elekid blitzed forward at the off-balance gligar. The force of impact made it continue it's stumble.

"Low kick!"

Dropping down into a crouch, Elekid jabbed a foot out. Gligar did as it's master had instructed and opened up it's wings. The flying pokemon lifted off the ground and avoided the low kick. A sense of dejá vu crept over me. A memory of my heracross battle a machoke worked it's way into my mind.

Dylan pointed. "Ice punch!"

Elekid reared back. A blue mist swirled around it's right fist. It punched hard and dug it's fist into Gligar's stomach. The ground- and flying-type pokemon's eyes bulged. After a split second it went spiraling backwards. I couldn't tell which surprised me more: that Elekid knew ice punch or that Collin had been set up so easily.

Gligar slowly rose back up. If they had been at equal levels of power, I knew that this round would already have been over. Both of Gligar's types were weak to ice which meant ice punch wasn't doubly effective, but quadruple-ly effective. Luckily for Collin, Dylan's elekid had only been apart of his team for little more than a week.

Dylan was well aware of this too. "Again!"

The electric pokemon rushed in, blue mist swirling around it's fist. An upper cut swing connected with Gligar's jaw. From the point of impact, a thick layer of ice spread out over the ground pokemon's body. In the span of a few seconds, the entire pokemon was encompassed in ice. It fell to the earth and the ice shattered to reveal the passed out gligar.

"Gligar is unable to battle!" Sarah declared, extending an open hand towards Dylan. "Elekid is the winner!"

Collin recalled his pokemon. He paused to give the poke ball a sneer before placing it back on his belt. I was astonished. I had no idea that someone could actually treat their pokemon with such disdain.

"Weepinbell, go!" the redheaded trainer announced.

That made sense on Collin's side of things. A grass pokemon would be the next best thing to take on a electric pokemon, except for maybe a rock-type. It's yellow, bell-shaped body sat softly on the dirt. It's gaping, pink-lipped mouth was turned towards Elekid. It waved it's leafy appendages angrily.

"Elekid, quick attack!" Dylan started them off.

"Why doesn't he change pokemon?" David wondered aloud. "Doesn't he have a fire pokemon? Electric attacks won't do much good."

"He does," I confirmed. "But ice punch will work well against a grass pokemon. He might be trying to see how far he can get with Elekid."

Elekid, it turned out, wasn't getting far with it's quick attack. Two dark green vines had snaked out of the top of Weepinbell, near it's little root like appendage, and grabbed a hold of the electric pokemon. It currently had it suspended a few feet up in the air. Elekid flailed helplessly.

"Thundershock!" Dylan shouted, trying to free his pokemon.

His pokemon responded by whirling it's arms in circles. Sparks crackled from it's horns and then a current of electricity began pouring out. It flowed down the vines and started zapping Weepinbell's body. The grass pokemon cringed. It wasn't a very effective attack but it could still cause damage.

"Slam it!" was Collin's response.

The vines snapped downward like a whip and drove Elekid into the ground. The electricity stopped flowing. Although dazed, Elekid managed to sit up. At that same moment, a bluish-green ball of energy was forming in Weepinbell's mouth.

"Now!" Collin yelled. "Energy ball!"

With a upper-octave cry, the weepinbell fired the attack. Despite Dylan's attempts to rouse it, Elekid was still reeling from it's quick trip back to the earth. The ball of grass-type energy slammed into the electric pokemon and detonated.

Elekid never stood a chance.

"Elekid is unable to battle!" Nurse Sarah announced. "Weepinbell is the winner!"

A small, smug smile crossed Colin's face. A muscle under Dylan's eye twitched.

"That was some attack," I muttered. "That might take down his croconaw in one hit even."

The reality of the battle was beginning to set in on Dylan. I could see it in his face. He had picked a fight with someone who was clearly a veteran trainer.

Dylan held out a poke ball and then swung his arm around into a throw. "Cyndaquil, you're up!"

I smiled as the fire mouse pokemon appeared on the field. I had always like it. I just hoped that it wasn't in over it's head here.

"Quil!" it shouted in it's high-pitched voice as the spiky flames on it's back sprang to life.

"Ember!" Dylan commanded.

Cyndaquil hunched over and a volley of fiery embers launched out of it's flames. Weepinbell didn't even try to dodge. With two swipes of it's leaf-like appendages, it sent two swirls of razor-sharp leaves cutting through the air. They sliced right through the embers. Most of the leaves were burnt up but some continued on into oblivion.

David let out a soft whistle as it became clear that you could in fact block a fire attack with a grass attack. I gave a shake of my head as I realized how screwed Dylan just might be.

"Smokescreen!"

Cyndaquil covered the field with a thick, black smoke and if nothing else, bought Dylan a moment or two to consider his next move. I could just barely make out the two silhouettes of the battling pokemon at the edges of the smoke cloud. Weepinbell still hadn't moved. Cyndaquil was crouched down, looking slightly worried.

Colin was clearly feeling confident. "Razor leaf! Drive that puny pokemon right out of there!"

As Weepinbell launched a wave of razor leaves into the cloud, something else emerged. It was a rolling ball of fire, roughly the size of a basketball. In that brief respite, Dylan had ordered Cyndaquil to use flame wheel. Any of the razor leaves that even came close to the rolling inferno were instantly vaporized.

Weepinbell finally had to move. It moved with an awkward hopping motion but it was too slow to escape Cyndaquil. Things were suddenly looking up.

"Energy ball!" Colin yelled.

With the fire pokemon bearing down on it, the weepinbell didn't have time to aim, it just fired the glowing ball. It exploded to the side of Cyndaquil, not damaging it but throwing it off course. Instead of bringing it's full force to bear on Weepinbell, the fire pokemon merely clipped the grass pokemon. Even a clip was still enough to inflict some damage.

"Vine whip!" Colin shouted. "Skyward!"

The two green vines appeared again. With a wide arc, they snapped up at the bottom of the spinning cyndaquil. For a few moments at least, the flame wheel was no longer a threat.

Dylan had other ideas to be threatening though. "Ember!"

The rolling flames extinguished. Still in a spin, Cyndaquil began spraying a stream of embers. Weepinbell hadn't been expecting this. It let out a cry as it received a fiery shower.

"Poison powder!"

A thick cloud of purple dust began emanating from Weepinbell's top point. Even with the raining embers, it drifted up into the sky. Cyndaquil began to flail wildly in midair as it realized it had no control over where it was going.

"Flame wheel!" Dylan commanded with authority. "Aim right at Weepinbell!"

The flames on Cyndaquil's back flared up as it somersaulted forward. The flames quickly engulfed it's body again. The spinning also served to somehow gain it some forward momentum. Suddenly it rolling down an invisible hill right back at Weepinbell. As the flame wheel cut through the cloud of purple powder, most of it was instantly burned away. Some of it still swirled around the falling fire pokemon.

"Energy ball!"

Weepinbell needed at least three seconds to gather up the energy and fire. It only had two. Cyndaquil smashed into the bulk of Weepinbell, fire spouting everywhere. The energy ball that had formed in the grass-type's mouth launched out and exploded harmlessly. Cyndaquil pushed off and threw itself backwards, free of the flames and away from it's opponent.

"Vine whip!"

Two vines shot out in the blink of an eye and hit Cyndaquil like a truck. The small fire pokemon skipped back across the field, kicking up grass and dirt. It let out a small moan and it shakily got back to it's feet.

Despite having now taken three fire-type attacks, Weepinbell still looked fresh despite a few char marks. It was clearly a season pokemon and Cyndaquil just didn't have the strength to match up to it. I frowned as I realized Dylan's ship was sinking quicker than I had thought.

Cyndaquil turned it's tiny eyes towards Dylan. My friend met the pokemon's gaze. Then Cyndaquil looked in my direction. I was surprised until I realized it wasn't looking at me. It was looking at Croagunk.

"Cynda-quil!" it screamed as the fire on it's back roared to new heights.

A murmur of confusion ran through our group, except for me. I recognized it instantly. It was Blaze. In it's time of greatest need, Cyndaquil had reached down to amp up it's fire powers.

"Cynda-quiiiiiil!"

The fire on it's back turned a glowing white, then the rest of it's body followed suit. I gasped along with everyone else as Cyndaquil evolved.

It was now long and thin. The trademark snout of a cyndaquil was replaced with a much more modest nose. It retained the same color scheme, with dark bluish fur on top and the milky color on the bottom. Fire now sprouted from both the top of it's head almost like a Mohawk and from the base of it's back like a tail almost.

"Quilava!" it roared as it's fired blazed up again.

Dylan saw it and understood that he only had one shot. "Quilava, flame wheel!"

With a twirl of it's head, the newly evolved pokemon was engulfed in flames. It was a much, much bigger flame wheel than before, owing to the power increase Quilava got with evolution along with it's increase in physical size all coupled together with blaze.

Fear flickered across Colin's face. There would be no place for Weepinbell to hide. The rolling flames were colossal and they were closing quickly.

"Energy ball!" he yelled.

The green orb of energy filled Weepinbell's mouth and then blasted out at Quilava. Instead of exploding when it made contact, it seemed to distort. Somehow the immense power of the flame wheel was keeping the energy ball from detonating and carried it along with it.

"Again!" Colin screamed.

Panic crossed through the eyes of Weepinbell as it fired again. It got the same result. Now the incoming flames had a much larger green blob proceeding them. Weepinbell let out a horrified squawk.

Then Quilava hit.

I saw it before I heard it. The elements of fire and grass fusing together into a massive explosion. At first it was an orb of power. Then the orb popped like a bubble and all the energy rushed skyward. A pillar of red fire reached for the heavens as a channel of green grass energy snaked around it.

The shockwave hit and I was shoved backwards. I lost my balance and fell. Landing hard on my stomach, I was suddenly glad I wasn't standing with Dylan. When I managed to right myself after a few seconds of making sure I still had hair, I could see that everyone around me had fallen as well.

I turned back to the battlefield. The spectacle was over. Dylan and Colin were picking themselves up off the ground very slowly. They were each about five or so feet behind where they had started. Dylan shot me a small nod to indicate he was alright. I returned the gesture.

The battlefield had been hurt worst of all. Grass and dirt had been scorched and tossed everywhere. In the center there was now a large crater. My eyes locked onto what was still inside the crater. Near the center were the unmoving bodies of Weepinbell and Quilava. The power of the explosion had been too much for both pokemon.

The two trainers both recalled their pokemon as Nurse Sarah declared them both unable to battle. Colin barely glanced at his with indifference. Dylan gave his a long look and said a few quiet words to it.

"Croa," said an unknown voice.

I glanced around and then realized that it had been Croagunk. The pokemon was still seated on the ground. It's eyes were locked on Quilava's poke ball. There was something different about Croagunk's eyes too. There was a watery shimmer to them. The pokemon blinked twice and it was gone.

"Wow, I'm done," David said, tearing my attention away from Croagunk. "What's left to see after that?"

A smirk appeared on my lips as both trainers were deciding on their next pokemon. Colin was the first to release his choice. I recognized the furry, brown raticate as soon as I saw it. It was a common pokemon but it was capable of learning all sorts of attacks which made it potentially deadly.

Dylan raised his nose and sniffed the gust of wind that rolled past. It smelt heavily of rain. As if on cue, a few drops began falling. A light rain followed. I raided my bag and offered my umbrella to Nurse Sarah which she graciously accepted. I donned my rain poncho.

When I looked back up, Dylan had a pokemon in his hand and a confident look on his face. Given the falling rain, I instantly narrowed it down to two options.

"Gyarados, come forth!"

That had been my second guess. The rain would give a water pokemon an advantage so I knew it had to be either Gyarados or Croconaw. I guess now was as good as ever to pull out the heavy artillery.

Collin, surprisingly, didn't even flinch as the serpentine pokemon roared into existence. His expression didn't alter at all. It was probably the first time I'd seen Gyarados not receive a reaction.

"Raticate, return," Collin said calmly.

The red-haired man paused for a moment as if reconsidering his move.

"Vulpix, go!"

This was probably the most surprising move yet. The four-legged pokemon was covered in red fur including it's six curled tails. It was also a fire pokemon. It made no sense at all to send out a pokemon at a type disadvantage. Especially considering it was still raining.

"It's a trap!" spat a gravely voice to my right.

I looked over to see David spit out a piece of gum he'd been almost choking on and clear his throat.

"It's a trap," he repeated in his normal voice. "There's no way he'd send out a fire pokemon now if he didn't have something up his sleeve."

David was clearly right.

"Will-o-wisp!" Collin yelled, pointing at Gyarados.

My mouth turned down into a frown. This was an attack I was unfamiliar with. Dylan didn't seem to think it posed a threat. He had a smirk on his face as the blue fireball formed in Vulpix's mouth.

"No!" David yelled.

The blue flames hit Gyarados. If it felt anything, it wasn't noticeable. Gyarados continued to loom over the small vulpix. Dylan's smirk grew. Gyarados let out a low rumble. Collin gave it a smile back.

Then the water pokemon erupted in flames.

All of us on the sidelines took a step back as the enflamed pokemon roared in pain. The fire was all encompassing. Only the dim outline of Gyarados could be made out. Then as soon as it had appeared, the fire vanished.

"What was that?" Vanessa breathed, her hand over her heart.

Nurse Sarah shot her a strange look. "It's a burn. Will-o-wisp causes a burn one-hundred percent of the time. Apparently your friend didn't know that. A burned pokemon also suffers from a decrease of it's attack power."

Gyarados shook it's head, trying to rid itself of the shock of what had happened to it. While it was doing that, Collin had recalled his vulpix. In it's place he sent out a small yellow pokemon with spiky fur. It was the jolteon that I had guessed he had in his possession from Dylan's description.

"Finish it fast Gyarados!" Dylan yelled with a sweep of his hand. "Twister!"

"Thunderbolt!"

The tornado formed in the water pokemon's mouth and barreled out in a windy column. Only this twister wasn't as big as I'd seen in the past. It was maybe only half the size of the one I had seen Gyarados create when I had teamed up with Dylan only a few days previous.

It met the streak of lightning that was coming from the jolteon. It offered up a moment of resistance and then gave way. The electricity shredded the twister completely. It raced up to Gyarados unopposed.

Gyarados roared and tried to squirm away.

"Dragon rage!"

Gyarados had to fight with all it's might to right itself. The ball of energy was slow to form. When Dylan's pokemon finally managed to shoot it, it's aim was poor. The exploding ball of energy missed the electric pokemon but the shockwave of the explosion was enough to disrupt it's current.

"Return!"

The command hadn't come from who I had expected. It wasn't Dylan recalling his wounded pokemon. It was Collin bringing back his totally fresh jolteon. In it's place he sent back out his raticate.

We were all stunned. Dylan was so caught off guard that he hesitated in calling for an attack. A wave of flames washed over Gyarados, appearing and disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Collin didn't. "Charge beam!"

The raticate raised up it's face and in front of it's large front teeth a crackling yellow orb formed. I could immediately tell this was going nowhere good. With a jerk of it's round-ish body, it slammed the orb into the ground. The orb shattered into streaks of lighting. Streaks of lightning that all honed in on Gyarados. There was no way for it to dodge them all.

As the serpent pokemon shook off the effects of the electric attack, Dylan tried to mount an offensive. Then Gyarados was engulfed in flames.

Gyarados' roar of pain forced Dylan into action. "Return!"

"Pursuit!"

As the beam from Dylan's poke ball struck his keeled over pokemon, so did raticate's glowing purple tail. Because Dylan was attempting to switch his pokemon out, the dark-type attack did double damage. The glowing tail smacked Gyarados across the face like a ton of bricks.

With one final roar, Gyarados toppled. It let out a soft groan as it lay still.

"Gyarados is unable to battle!" Nurse Sarah declared. "Raticate is the winner!"

Just like that, Dylan had lost his mightiest pokemon.

Nurse Sarah called for the three minute break. I headed over to a still stunned Dylan. Croagunk followed me. Vanessa and David stayed on the sidelines. They were in deep conversation about what they had just seen. As far as I knew, this was the first time they had seen Gyarados actually battle.

"You alright?"

He shook his head to clear away his thoughts. "More or less?"

I dialed up a skeptical look. "You sure? Gyarados took a hell of a beating."

"I've got it under control," he said impatiently. "I think he pulled out all his tricks to beat Gyarados. That means I know exactly what he can do."

I said nothing.

The rain stopped falling. A few drops still sprinkled about but the main shower was over. It was almost as if it had been baiting Dylan into sending out his water pokemon.

"Besides, there's not anything I can do," he continued. "And it's not like Gyarados was my only strong pokemon. Croconaw can take out his vulpix and Bulbasaur can handle that jolteon. Between the two of them they can more than handle that raticate."

I noticed that he didn't even mention the toxicroak that we both knew still awaited him. I decided not to bring it up.

Nurse Sarah called for the match to resume. I made my way back over to the sidelines. When I got back, I noticed that I was missing something. I had made my journey to Dylan with a companion but had come back alone. Glancing around I saw that Croagunk now stood with Dylan. I just smiled.


	25. Chapter 25

Dylan was called upon to send out the first pokemon. He sent out his bulbasaur to do battle. Collin responded with his vulpix.

The fire pokemon struck first, releasing a mighty flamethrower. Bulbasaur dodged, rolled to it's right and came up firing razor leaves. Vulpix re-aimed it's fire attack and burned the leaves out of the sky. While it had been defending itself, Bulbasaur had used it's vine whip to grab a hold of the fire pokemon's front legs. A hard jerk sent it flying. Another jerk slammed it into the ground.

"I wonder why he doesn't switch," I mumbled.

"He doesn't have a choice," David replied, not realizing I had been talking to myself. "Two of Collin's other pokemon have attacks that are super effective against his croconaw, but…"

He paused. I looked at him.

"What's his sixth pokemon?"

I had been curious about that myself. His first five pokemon were obvious. They were the ones he used on a regular basis. The final participant on his team was shrouded in mystery. He had expressed concern about using his zigzagoon a few days ago and I couldn't imagine his opinion had changed since then. He hadn't used his oddish recently at all as far as I could remember either. I shared all this with David.

David just scratched at his beard. "This should be real interesting then."

It had gotten interesting already. Bulbasaur had managed to stick a leech seed onto Vulpix which was slowly draining it's energy. Unfortunately that was about all the damage that it had caused. Vulpix's powerful flamethrower had kept Bulbasaur at a distance and cancelled out any attacks that could reach that far.

Dylan's eyes went hazy for a moment as something was clearly processing. "Use vine whip against the ground and jump!"

That was certainly new.

It was much like his totodile had done so long ago and I had stolen with my mudkip. The attack propelled the pokemon high up into the air. Unfortunately I couldn't see how this was going to help. Now Bulbasaur was in the air and immobile except for the power of gravity once it's jump reached it's peak.

"Razor leaf!" Dylan yelled for stage two of his plan.

A wide cloud of the dark leaves rained down on Vulpix. It took a few hits and then countered with it's flamethrower yet again. Charred leaves plummeted from the sky all around the fire pokemon. Bulbasaur kept producing razor leaves in a progressively losing battle. Vulpix was almost surrounded in a haze of the charred leaves.

Dylan commanded, "Return! Go Croconaw!"

The water pokemon landed with a mighty stomp of it's feet. As expected, Collin raised his poke ball to recall his now disadvantaged fire pokemon. His other hand reached for a different poke ball.

Yet Vulpix remained on the field.

The still descending roasted leaf remains were too thick for the laser of the poke ball to penetrate. The red beam got about three feet away from Vulpix and then faded. Collin attempted it again. This time it faded at four feet away.

"Brilliant," I whistled. I had not expected this outcome. "Now the field gets leveled."

"Croconaw, water gun!"

The torrent of water Croconaw released was more than powerful enough to cut through the haze of leaves. It slammed into Vulpix without stopping. The six-tailed pokemon was driven to the ground. Then it was water gunned again before Collin could attempt to recall it.

"Vulpix is unable to battle!" Nurse Sarah declared with a wave of her hand. "Croconaw is the winner!"

"I can't believe how well that worked," Vanessa said.

I snorted. "I can't believe that worked at all. I would've never thought to try and block the laser of a poke ball. I'm not sure if that's really legal."

"Pokemon can learn moves that don't let you recall another pokemon," David lectured. "Mean look or something like that. If an attack can do it, why not by some other means?"

"You got me there." I shrugged.

On the field, Collin had sent his jolteon back out. Dylan instantly recalled Croconaw. In it's place, he sent Bulbasaur back out. The brief rest in the poke ball didn't appear to give the grass pokemon any extra energy. Although it was no longer breathing heavily which I guessed was a step in the right direction.

"Jolteon, pin missile!" Collin shouted.

The spiky yellow fur straightened straight out from the electric pokemon. A white glow traced the outlines of it. Then it erupted. White streaks of energy with something like arrowheads literally screamed through the sky. It was like watching a big bunch of bottle rockets being set off. Bottle rockets of concentrated bug-type energy that exploded on contact.

"Dodge it!" Dylan yelled. "Then use take down!"

Bulbasaur took off at a full run, kicking up blades of grass in it's wake. The golden glow that made a take down different from a tackle flowed with it. All around the racing grass pokemon, pin missiles were slamming into the ground and exploding. The force of one effortlessly tossed Bulbasaur from it's path but the determined grass pokemon landed on it's feet and kept going.

Somehow Dylan's pokemon managed to weave through all the explosions and arrived at Jolteon still going full speed. Bulbasaur barreled into the electric pokemon and the golden glow slammed forward as well. With a high-pitched cry, Jolteon went sailing backwards. It righted itself and exploded with a thunderbolt.

Although it wasn't very effective, the green-skinned bulbasaur was clearly not enjoying itself. It gritted it's teeth and tried to wait it out. When it became clear that wasn't going to happen, Dylan countered with a blast of razor leaves. They shattered against Jolteon's pointed fur. It was enough of an impact to disrupt the current.

Collin changed gears. "Quick attack!"

Jolteon rapidly began closing the gap between it and it's opponent. Dylan called for a tackle and Bulbasaur started bounding towards the streaking Jolteon. I frowned. With the speed Jolteon was building up, Bulbasaur was going to get the worst of the exchange by far. When they got close enough, Jolteon went airborne.

"Go flat!" Dylan snapped. He sliced his hand to create an invisible line he wanted his pokemon below. "Then sleep powder!"

Bulbasaur flung it's feet out from under it's body and slid to the ground like a headfirst baseball slide. From the opening at the top of the bulb on it's back, a golden cloud formed. The powdery cloud drifted up and right into Jolteon's path. The cloud burst when the electric pokemon cut right through it.

Jolteon landed on it's feet. It turned to look at Bulbasaur and then shook it's body like it was trying to shake the water from it's fur. Golden powder floated off and disappeared into the sky. A final shake of it's tail gave off a small stream of powder.

Collin smiled.

Dylan frowned.

Jolteon sneezed a small puff of gold.

Collin's eyes got big as Jolteon developed a serious lean to one side. The electric pokemon's eyes got droopy. It held out as long as it could but Jolteon slumped down to the ground and began quietly snoozing. Both Bulbasaur and Dylan let out a sigh of relief.

"Return!" Dylan called and quickly released Croconaw. "Slash!"

Croconaw's claws glowed white and grew long. Dylan's throw of it's poke ball had been well planned. Croconaw was close enough to Jolteon that it could sweep a long clawed hand across the sleeping pokemon before Collin could get to it's poke ball.

"Again!"

This time Croconaw stooped down as it ran at the still slumbering pokemon. It's claws left deep trenches in the ground as it dragged it behind. Jolteon's eyes fluttered open as Croconaw swung it's claws to the heavens. A long, drawn out cry followed Jolteon as it soared backwards and skidded to a stop at Collin's feet.

Nurse Sarah made the call after Jolteon struggled to it's feet and then collapsed again. "Jolteon is unable to battle! Croconaw is the winner!"

Dylan's ability to rally from being down impressed me. I had half expected him to start coming apart once Gyarados had been defeated. Now I knew better. Now he still had a fresh Croconaw, a battered Bulbasaur and his mystery pokemon to battle Collin's raticate and presumably his toxicroak. Despite numbers, it was probably an even battle now.

While I had been thinking, Collin's raticate had reemerged onto the field. As Dylan called for a water gun, Collin countered with something called sucker punch. I never saw Raticate move but something purple slammed into Croconaw's stomach and then disappeared, doubling the pokemon over.

"Peculiar move set," David mused. "Two dark-type moves and an electric-type move. He must mostly use it in certain situations."

"Like what?" Vanessa asked.

"Well, like he did with Gyarados just now. Use the super-effective electric attack and then when the trainer goes to pull his pokemon back, bam! Hit 'em with pursuit for double damage. He's clearly good."

I snorted. "Pretty sure we could figure that out from the battle."

I refocused on the battle. Raticate was literally running circles around Croconaw using quick attack. The water pokemon was snapping it's head from side to side, trying to anticipate where the strike may come from. It turned out above was the correct answer. Raticate leapt into the air and swung down a glowing purple tail. The pursuit attack smashed Croconaw on the top of it's head and then Raticate followed up with another quick attack. It then went back to it's circling technique.

Croconaw was at Raticate's mercy. Ever time the water pokemon took a step, Raticate closed the circle a little tighter and cut Croconaw off. The route the raticate had been taken had made a circle about eight or so feet wide. Now it had been shrunk down to less than five feet. There was no way either pokemon could move without hitting the other now. A yellow streak now accompanied Raticate in it's race as it readied it's charge beam attack.

Exactly what Dylan had been waiting for. "Slash!"

Once Croconaw's claws had gotten their glowing extensions, it simply just had to extend it's arm out and brace itself. Raticate caused itself to have the claws rake across it's body with it's blazing speeds and poor stopping. The normal-typed pokemon tumbled away. The electric attack it had been readying diffused and shot harmless darts of lightning into the ground.

"Water gun!" Dylan tried to build upon the opening he had created.

Raticate was quick back up to it's feet. With a quick attack, it darted around the water gun. It raced in and leveled Croconaw. It followed up with a charge beam that kept Croconaw on the ground.

"Quick attack again!" Collin was now building on his opportunity.

As Raticate closed in, Dylan formed a plan. "Roll and crunch!"

Despite the big red spines on it's back, Croconaw managed to roll to it's side and out of the way of Raticate. The mouse pokemon ran past and Croconaw clamped it's jaws shut. There was a horrifying squeak and Raticate came to an abrupt halt. It's tail was firmly locked inside of Croconaw's jaws.

Dylan grinned. "Take it for a ride."

Croconaw began tossing it's head from side to side. Raticate was tossed around like a rag doll. Each flip of Croconaw's head slammed the raticate to the ground. Croconaw then began pivoting on it's feet. The water pokemon spun in two quick circles and then flung it's trapped opponent across the field.

"Rat! Rat-icate!" the mouse pokemon grunted as it bounced to a stop.

Much to everyone's surprise, Raticate then got back on it's feet. I was certainly surprised. With the onslaught that had been thrust upon it, I surely expected the raticate to be finished. It didn't look like it had a whole lot of life left to it but it was definitely still in the battle.

Dylan frowned. He apparently also thought that this particular round should be over. I couldn't imagine he had a whole lot more strategies to use here. If nothing else, his pokemon hadn't taken that much damage yet.

"Unless Raticate can get off like three or four uninterrupted charge beam, I think Croconaw will just wear it down," David said.

"I can't disagree," I said back.

Collin had apparently also been thinking along those lines and called for a charge beam. Unfortunately, like it's name says, it has to charge. Water gun on the other hand does not need to charge. A deep blue column of water punched Raticate square in the mouth and off it's feet.

The water gun had more or less signaled the end for Raticate. As it was trying to lift itself back up into battling position, Croconaw struck again. Another surging water gun buried Raticate into the ground. It didn't have the strength to even try and resist this one.

"Raticate is unable to battle!" Nurse Sarah announced.

"He's going to do it!" Vanessa squealed. "Collin's only got one pokemon left! Dylan's still got three!"

Next to Dylan, Croagunk looked like he agreed with Vanessa. Or if nothing else, was getting into the spirit of the match. The pokemon had it's long fingers curled into fists and had been shaking them in excitement. It seemed to incredibly grateful that the pokemon that were battling on it's behalf were winning.

I said "Maybe but I have a hunch Collin's last pokemon isn't going to be a pushover."

Collin was staring intently at the poke ball he had in his hand. He gave it a determined look. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, this match was important to him. He might not care if he lost his croagunk but he did care about losing his pride.

He fixed Dylan with an evil stare. "Toxicroak, go!"

I gave a little shudder as the poisonous fighting pokemon appeared a foot in the air and slammed to the ground. It crossed it's arms which gave us a good look at the red claws it had between and above it's fingers. The deep purple pokemon threw it's arms open and gave a mighty, somewhat frightening roar. The red sac under it's chin pulsed in anticipation.

"Here we go," David muttered.

"Croconaw return!" Dylan called. My eyebrows perked up as I thought we might see his mystery pokemon and then was disappointed as he followed with "Bulbasaur, go!"

The grass pokemon didn't look intimidated at all. I had to guess that it was at least a little bit. Toxicroak stood more than twice Bulbasaur's height and no one could deny that it's red claws weren't intimidating.

There was a moment of hesitation. No one moved. No one spoke.

"Razor leaf!" Dylan shouted.

"Poison sting!" Collin screamed.

Toxicroak's neck pouch ballooned out and it dipped it's head forward. A storm of purple needles exploded out. As they met with the spinning razor leaves, they began to shatter the leaves. Dark green and purple shrapnel was scattered throughout the field until the two pokemon ceased their attacks.

"Vine whip!" Dylan tried to gain the upper hand.

"Stop it," Collin said, suddenly the perfect model of calm.

The two vines roped across the field at Toxicroak. The poison pokemon simply reached out a hand and snatched them out of the air. My heart seized up in my chest. Dylan and Bulbasaur shared similar looks of surprise. We had all known that Toxicroak was going to be strong but we appeared to be getting a glimpse of how fast it might be.

"Finish it," Collin sniffed. "Poison jab."

The claw on it's left hand began to glow purple as Toxicroak yanked with it's right. Bulbasaur was hauled off it's feet and through the air. Toxicroak arched it's left hand back. Faster than the eye could track, it stabbed downward. Just as Bulbasaur arrived, helpless in midair.

"No!" Vanessa and someone else, probably Dylan, screamed.

Bulbasaur gave a tiny groan from it's position. It had been driven almost a foot into the ground, headfirst. Toxicroak remained in it's stance for a moment, point of it's claw still digging into the back of the grass pokemon's head.

It wasn't necessary but Nurse Sarah declared Bulbasaur unable to battle.

Dylan had a look of horror on his face that I had to imagine was mirrored on my own and surprisingly, Croagunk's . Sure, Bulbasaur had already battled a bit but it should've been able to take more than one hit. It wasn't even a super-effective hit. Dylan had to be wondering what kind of hole he might be in now.

He did his best to hide whatever misgivings he may be feeling. "Croconaw, go!"

Toxicroak stood taller than the water pokemon as well. Croconaw wasn't showed no fear. It hissed and bared it's teeth. Toxicroak ballooned out it's sac and let out a deep croak. I thought I might've seen the corners of it's tight might twitch up in a sadistic smile. I couldn't help but shutter again.

"Water gun!" Dylan shouted.

Croconaw reared back and blasted. Toxicroak arched forward and fired it's mud bomb attack. A barrage of small brown balls of mud met the water gun in the heart of the field. At first the two attacks held each other at bay. Then the ground-type attack began forcing the stream of water back. Croconaw's big red eyes got even bigger.

It only took a handful of seconds before Croconaw had been completely overwhelmed by the mud bomb. The balls of mud pounded into Dylan's pokemon and knocked it to the ground. The water pokemon rolled to the side and out of the path of the ground attack.

"Poison jab!" Collin yelled. "Finish it!"

The purple glow returned to Toxicroak's red claw. It took a handful of steps and then lunged. Leading with the glowing claw, it flew in at Croconaw. This could potentially be a battle-ending strike.

"Crunch!"

Croconaw perked up and snapped it's jaws. On the second snap, the powerful jaws clamped down on Toxicroak's hand. The poison pokemon's momentum pushed Croconaw back a little but it held firm. I wasn't sure how but Croconaw now had Toxicroak's hand inside it's mouth but not touching the poisonous claw.

"Slam it!" Dylan called.

His pokemon planted it's feet and then jerked it's head. Toxicroak was pulled off it's feet and slammed to the ground after an overhead arc. It was eerily similar to what Croconaw had done to Collin's raticate. Toxicroak was much stronger however. Still trapped in Croconaw's mouth, it got back up to it's feet.

"Show that croconaw how we do things," Collin snarled.

Toxicroak's sac pulsed and it flexed it's trapped arm. It grunted slightly. Then it heaved Croconaw into the air. If for no other reason but to demonstrate it's strength, it held the water pokemon straight up in the air. Croconaw's eyes bulged as it clenched it's jaws even tighter. If it loosened up even a bit, it might come into contact with the poisonous claw.

Dylan acted quickly and creatively "Water gun!"

Croconaw's cheeks bulged. Little jets of water began to shoot out from gaps in it's lips. Then the water pokemon opened it's mouth. The torrent it unleashed forced Toxicroak down to one knee and then launched Croconaw into the air.

Croconaw kept the water gun going for a surprisingly long time. Apparently it couldn't keep it up indefinitely and I learned that water pokemon had to breath in between water guns. Dylan let Croconaw get it's breath and then called for another water gun. He kept up the pattern. Croconaw was continually suspended in the air and Toxicroak was kept down on one knee, constantly taking damage.

"Slash!" Dylan shouted over the rush of water.

The water gun ceased and Croconaw began to drop. It fired another short blast to keep it's opponent down. Then the long white claws extended. Croconaw brought them both down hard as Toxicroak looked up. Toxicroak let out a deep, pained groan. Spinning in the air, Croconaw smacked the poison pokemon in the face with it's tail and used the impact to propel itself away.

"Nice combo," David said, echoing my thoughts.

Toxicroak rose back to full height having successfully weathered the barrage. Seeing it standing there formed a pit in the bottom of my stomach. Dylan wasn't likely to get another chance to inflict that kind of damage. I wasn't completely sure but it seemed to me like he had gone for broke there. And came up empty.

Now Toxicroak went on the offensive.

The pulsing of the sac under it's chin was it's tell that a poisonous attack was most likely on the way. It was also the only thing that gave Dylan any warning. Croconaw was able to dive away from the poison sting attack. The dive was sudden and uncoordinated and Croconaw was left sprawled out on the ground.

It was then that we found out just how fast Toxicroak was. It was far from the fastest pokemon I'd ever seen but it quite a bit faster than it's opponent. Croconaw was able to roll onto it's back but couldn't even begin the ascent to it's feet before Toxicroak towered over it.

Dylan tried to take advantage of the closeness with a water gun. Collin had seen it coming and had the toxicroak _catch_ the attack. With palms out and slightly curved, Toxicroak held the water attack completely at bay. Croconaw's eyes bulged as it saw this. Slowly, Toxicroak shifted the brunt of the water gun to the center of one hand.

"Brick break!" Collin roared as his pokemon raised it's free arm.

Golden sparks began to crackle from the raised arm. With violent force, Toxicroak slammed it down. The strike cut right through the water gun. The ground fractured and soil and rocks were tossed into the air as Croconaw was driven into the earth. The water gun abruptly ended.

I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists. That had been a brutal hit. No doubt the spray that had been created from it's own water gun had prevented Croconaw from seeing it until it was too late. With all the other damage it had taken while battling Collin's raticate I had to imagine that this was it.

"Croconaw!" Dylan yelled to it, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Croconaw, use flail!"

From the crater that was shaped like the outline of it's body burst Croconaw, determination burning in it's eyes. Then it proceeded to wave it's arms with rapid speed almost looking like it was in a slap-fight. I half expected to start crying like a child as it did so. I didn't bother to try and hide the grin that formed on my face. The big, nasty Toxicroak was shielding itself from the flailing Croconaw.

The poison pokemon stepped into fissures that had opened up in the ground. It lost it's balance and fell to the ground. Croconaw ceased it's flailing and dropped back to the ground a few feet away. The look of determination hadn't left it's eyes.

"Croco-naw!"

I felt a shockwave in the air as Croconaw erupted in what I first took to be blue flames. Then I realized they were moving too fluidly to be flames and they shimmered just a little. After a moment I recognized what was happening. I had seen it before but only the fire variation of it.

"Torrent," David breathed, the first to name the ability out loud. "Water attacks get way stronger!"

Dylan already knew this. "Water gun!"

His pokemon whirled it's head around and dropped it's jaw. I wasn't sure how that much water could possibly coming from it's gaping jaws but I was seeing it first hand.

So was Toxicroak.

The poison pokemon took the blow right in the chest. There was no hesitation at all as it was flung off it's feet. The water gun deposited it into the ground with authority. We all held our breath, hoping that it wouldn't rise.

"Get up Toxicroak!" Collin snarled, anger in his voice. Not concern.

Toxicroak sat up and climbed back up to it's feet with little effort. It looked wet and annoyed and showing no signs of damage or fatigue. On the other side of the field, Croconaw was showing almost the exact opposite. The water pokemon sagged as it stood, gasping for air with ragged breaths.

I could see the wheels turning behind Dylan's eyes and I knew what he must be mulling over. He still had one pokemon remaining. A pokemon that had yet to enter battle at all. He could switch Croconaw out in hopes that his sixth pokemon could either defeat Toxicroak or weaken it to the point that a slightly rested Croconaw could beat it.

Personally I would've switched pokemon but I wasn't the one battling. So I just thanked my lucky stars that the choice wasn't mine. Dylan appeared to be leaning towards agreeing with me. His hand seemed to be making it's way, consciously or subconsciously, towards his belt holster.

The decision was made for him.

Faster than Dylan could get his hand on a poke ball, Toxicroak cleared the distance that separated it from Croconaw. The claw on it's left hand glowed that dangerous purple. It swung it up into the water pokemon's gut. Croconaw was lifted into the air. I half expected to see the point of the claw coming out it's back. Then as quickly as it had struck, Toxicroak pulled it's hand and claw back.

The other hand came smashing down. It crackled with the golden sparks of a brick break attack. Croconaw was driven downward with terrifying force. I closed my eyes and looked away. I had known Croconaw since it was a totodile and didn't want to see it like this.

There was a small caw from Croconaw. Only once I had heard the familiar sound of a poke ball laser appear and disappear did I turn back. The crater that had formed from the first impact of brick break had nothing on this new one. I was glad I hadn't had to see it formed.

A gust of wind rustled the grass. It reminded me of a showdown in a western movie as Dylan held his final poke ball down by his waist. He had gotten far more than he had bargained for when he'd picked this fight. We could all now only hope that he could seal the deal.

He moved to throw the poke ball but was stopped mid-motion. A horrible wail had cut through the air. It was deep and throaty and full of sorrow. We all looked around for the source of such a sad noise. Vanessa spotted it first and pointed at it: it was Croagunk.

The smaller poison pokemon had fallen to it's knees and thrown it's hands in the air. It had been overcome with grief. The poisonous pokemon had just watched five pokemon give it their all to win Croagunk it's freedom. Those pokemon hadn't even known Croagunk until that day with the exception of Croconaw but they had battled like they were old friends. The pain of seeing what had happened to them was too much for the poisonous fighting pokemon to bare.

"Croaaaa!" it screeched, the pitch of it's voice growing progressively higher.

I wasn't sure what to expect next but what happened was the last thing I could've imagined.

Croagunk jumped to it's feet. It took two steps forward and then took off in a flying leap. With a single flip in the air, it landed in the center of the battlefield and screeched again. The two red pouches in it's cheeks were pulsating wildly. It gave off an involuntary shudder as did Toxicroak.

Croagunk had just entered the battle.

I could see Dylan's mind race frantically. He clearly wanted to make sure that the pokemon really wanted to do this but knew that it might insult it or it's honor. Instead he took a deep breath and swallowed once. My friend didn't consult his pokedex at all. He had clearly anticipated battling with Croagunk at some point in the future.

"You've got to be kidding!" laughed Collin, almost doubling over. "You're going to battle with that weak little shit? I can't believe it! You might as well just give up now! Toxicroak pois-"

Dylan cut him off. "Sucker punch!"

Croagunk flickered across the field. Suddenly it was standing almost side by side with Toxicroak, each facing a different direction. Then it buried it's dark purple-glowing fist deep into Toxicroak's stomach. The evolved poison pokemon's eyes bulged and some spittle shot out of it's mouth. Most likely poisonous spittle.

Dylan hesitated, trying to recall what move a croagunk might know that would be a good follow-up. The croagunk on the field had no hesitation. The red finger in the middle of it's three-fingered hand began glowing a bright purple. Pivoting around the doubled over Toxicroak, it drove the poison attack straight up in an uppercut.

"What?" Collin spat. "That thing doesn't know poison jab! There's no way!"

I barked a laugh. "It learned it while watched the battle. That's certainly unexpected."

Still in the air from delivering the uppercut poison jab, Croagunk spun to face the downed Toxicroak as Dylan shouted "Mud bomb!"

Croagunk leaned in and opened it's mouth. Hard packed balls of mud pelted the downed toxicroak. It was only for a pair of heartbeats that Croagunk remained in the air. It also took that same pair of heartbeats for Toxicroak to mount a counteroffensive. A much larger barrage of mud bombs began pushing back Croagunk's.

Not wasting any time, Dylan commanded Croagunk to cease the mud bomb and get out of the way. He was well aware of how devastating a ground attack could be to the poison pokemon he was battling both with and for. Toxicroak only held up it's mud bomb for a moment longer, pelting the ground with thick brown mud.

A moment was too long.

Croagunk dove across Toxicroak's path, driving a poison jab into the side of it's face. The bigger poison pokemon tipped sideways and stumbled and gave Dylan the opening he was looking for.

"Mud bomb!"

Croagunk blasted Toxicroak with the super-effective ground attack again. As far as I could tell, their hope for winning lay in that one move. Everything else that either pokemon seemed to know was a attack type that wasn't very effective. I tucked that scenario into the back of my mind for later.

Toxicroak rolled through the hail of mud and came up firing a poison sting. Although it wasn't very effective, it was still strong enough to knock Croagunk off it's feet. It lost track of the unevolved poison pokemon for a moment as Croagunk rolled and spun away from the attack. Toxicroak moved to use poison sting again but Croagunk materialized in front of it. It buried the commanded sucker punch deep into Toxicroak's stomach again.

From down on one knee, Toxicroak swatted Croagunk away with a glancing brick break. It stayed down on one knee for a few moments. When Toxicroak rose back up it had a grimace on it's ugly face. The battle was beginning to take it's toll.

Collin was seething with hate. "Kill them! Poison jab!"

Toxicroak roared and charged but not at full speed. It's left leg dragged slightly. Whether from all the attacks or from just tripping in the fissures it had caused by pounding Croconaw into the ground, the left leg of Toxicroak was not at one-hundred percent.

I briefly made eye contact with Dylan. He had seen it too. I could only imagine Croagunk had as well.

"Poison jab!" Dylan shouted.

Croagunk began storming in as well. The two pokemon raced forward, eyes locked on one another. Each had their right hand pulled back with either a claw or finger glowing purple.

"Now!" Collin and Dylan yelled in unison.

Both pokemon thrust their glowing hand forward. Their glowing appendages hit each other. The glowing poisonous power in them could no longer be contained and detonated. The explosion was purple and huge and hurled the two pokemon back.

Croagunk rotated in the air and landed on it's feet. It slammed it's hands into the ground to keep itself upright as it's momentum continued to force it backwards. Long trenches were left by it's feet and hands.

Toxicroak repeated the motion that Croagunk had done. However Croagunk had done it with fresh legs. Toxicroak only had one good leg. It's left leg gave out and it crashed to the ground. The shockwave of the explosion carried to backwards, tumbling head over heels.

To my left, David took a deep breath. "This is it!"

"Croagunk, mud bomb!"

From it's steady position, Croagunk struck. It arched back and then lurched forward as it fired the ground attack. Toxicroak hadn't recovered from it's spill and had no chance to defend itself. The balls of mud pounded into the downed pokemon, continuing it's tumbling.

Dylan pointed inward. "Poison jab!"

Croagunk rushed forward. It drew back it's right hand as it closed the gap. Toxicroak shook it's head and raised up onto all fours. Clearly the mud bomb barrage had done a lot of damage. It looked up to locate it's opponent. The only thing it could see was Croagunk's incoming poison jab.

There was no chance for a counterattack or even a defense. Croagunk drove it's poison jab into the side of Toxicroak's head with all it's might. The bigger poison pokemon was lifted off the ground. The impact spun it almost one-hundred and eighty degrees around.

It wasn't just a strike. It was THE strike.

"Toxicroak is unable to battle!" Nurse Sarah declared with a wave of her hand towards Dylan and a hint of joy she was trying to hide. "Victory to Croagunk and Dylan!"

"Yes!" Dylan exclaimed. He dropped to his knees and pumped his fists. "We did it Croagunk!"

"Croagunk!" the pokemon cried and ran over to him.

I crossed my arms and smiled. Any idea I had about catching the croagunk had gone out the window. The way it was dancing around Dylan I could tell that it would follow him to hell and back.

If we had been in an episode of a TV show, the sun would be setting to provide a dramatic frame. Good had prevailed. Evil was supposed to stalk off into the sunset to never be seen again or to maybe learn a lesson. The screen would fade to darkness around the happy new team of Dylan and Croagunk.

This, however, wasn't television.

Collin had collected his pokemon and was storming towards Dylan. An impressive stream of curses was flowing from his mouth. Clearly he was not a happy camper about losing. Not just losing, but losing to a pokemon he had previously deemed to be inferior.

I moved to intercept him.

"This is bullshit!" I heard him snarl.

I got in front of him and put a hand on his chest to slow him down. "Hold on there."

He swatted my hand away. "Get away from me. This is bullcrap and you know it!"

"Excuse me?"

"He used me pokemon! That's illegal! I won this battle!"

I snorted. "Pretty sure you gave up Croagunk. Believe you called it worthless or something like that. You should just go away now."

He shoved me. "Piss off weakling!"

I arched an eyebrow.

"You are weak! Your friends are weak! Your pokemon are weak! You are a poor excuse for a trainer! I saw you battle! You do not deserve to even be in the same area as me!"

This was something new to me. I wasn't used to having people not just yell at me, but insult my entire life. I wasn't sure what to do in this situation so I did the first thing that popped into my brain.

I punched Collin in the face.

For being my first legitimate punch thrown in anger, it was a pretty good one. I caught the redhead in the jaw with a solid right hook. Collin hadn't seen it coming and it spun him around and took him to the ground. A poke ball fell off his belt and popped open to reveal it was empty.

I could hear Dylan and David laughing as I tried to shake the pain out of my hand.

"Well that was certainly unexpected," David said through laughs.

Collin picked himself up off the ground. He fixed me with an icy stare. I tensed up in preparation for the retaliation blow that never came. He rotated his jaw once and then walked away. At first I thought he was scared of me but then I noticed that David was standing behind my right shoulder and Dylan was fast approaching.

I explained to them why exactly I had just punched Collin. They all found it amusing. Dylan picked up the fallen poke ball and played a hunch. It turned out to be Croagunk's poke ball.

"Enough about that," I said as I continued to shake my hand. "I need to know something."

Dylan looked around and then realized I was talking to him. "Hm?"

"What was your sixth pokemon originally?"

He smiled and grabbed at his belt. The bigger man enlarged the poke ball and tossed it into the air off to the side of our group. What appeared was not what I had been expecting at all. It was a purple bug pokemon with green wings and big yellow eyes.

"A dustox?" I asked. "How?"

Dylan recalled his pokemon. "Remember when Professor Oak called you to say that your butterfree evolved and so did my wurmple?" I nodded, thinking back a few days. "Turns out that wasn't my wurmple. My wurmple had evolved probably not long after I sent it over there. It hatched a couple days ago."

My mind rewound an hour or so. "Is that the phone call you took before the match?"

He nodded. "One of Oak's aides had called me to explain what happened and asked me not to tell Oak because he was really embarrassed. I told him if he'd train Dustox up a little, I wouldn't say a word."

I could see David's mind working and then he smiled. "Dustox had a major type advantage over Toxicroak. Fighting and poison attacks wouldn't bother it at all. It probably knows confusion as well."

Dylan nodded. "It does. And gust and protect. It was my ace in the hole to go against Toxicroak. It's not as strong as my other pokemon but I figured I could wear Toxicroak down with my other pokemon and then finish it off with Dustox."

"Then why did you battle with Croagunk?" Vanessa asked. "You had a sure thing in your back pocket!"

"How could I refuse?" Dylan shrugged. "It was for it's freedom. If anyone needed to battle for Croagunk's freedom, it was Croagunk."

Nurse Sarah convinced us to come back into the pokemon center with her. She put Dylan's pokemon, now including Croagunk, into the healing machine. Then she went and got me some ice for my hand. She felt my knuckles and determined nothing was broken. Regardless, I was grateful for the ice. She gave me some gauze wrap and David wrapped the small bag of ice around my fingers for me.

It was certainly an interesting start to the day.


	26. Chapter 26

After we were informed that there was a town that ran along Trainers' Pass less than a day's walk from where we were, we set out immediately. Dylan paused to thank Nurse Sarah for her help. She gave him a smile and told him to try and stay out of trouble from now on. Her eyes shifted to me to indicate that her warning went for me as well.

We skipped breaking for lunch and just kept on walking. I was fine with this because I was basically out of food. I wasn't the only one either. The other three were also scraping the bottoms of their food supplies. None of us had thought to load up on supplies when we left Chicago.

For a while, Dylan had allowed Croagunk to walk with us. The poisonous pokemon was clearly happy to be considered a full-fledged member of the group. However, Dylan soon found there was a drawback. Parading around with a pokemon that was doubly weak to psychic attacks drew anyone with a psychic pokemon to us. Eventually Dylan had to put Croagunk back into it's ball.

Our first steps into the town were almost seven hours later. The town was clearly used to trainer traffic and most stores posted late-night hours. Our first stop was the grocery store that was very close to the border. Each of us spent a fair amount of money to get our backpacks bulging with food. Hunger may have played a small issue in our over packing.

Although I demanded that we sleep in a hotel that night, I also made them detour to the pokemon shop before we found a place.

"What are we doing here?" Dylan asked me as I flipped through some technical machines.

"That battle got me thinking," I said as I held up a disc. "Croagunk versus Toxicroak was a giant slugfest because most of their moves were ineffective against each other. They did have mud bomb though. That still left them unable to really damage any pokemon that would have a type advantage."

Dylan squinted at me. "Croagunk knows sucker punch. That's a dark-type. It'd be effective against psychic pokemon."

I hesitated. "I forgot about that. Anyways, I guess that proves my point then. I want my pokemon to be able to deal heavy damage to any pokemon that'd have a type advantage."

"You'll never be able to get one that covers all types," Vanessa said from behind me. Clearly she had been listening in. "Most pokemon can't learn enough moves to cover anything that might affect them."

I gave her a shrug. "Maybe not but I can maybe cover the most likely types. Like I have ice beam already. I'm going to teach it to Mudkip."

Dylan's eyes unfocused as he thought. They snapped back. "I get it. When it evolves, it becomes a ground-type as well. It's only weakness would be grass."

"Exactly." I gave him a point of my finger. "Unfortunately, I can't really find anything I like so I'm just going to buy energy ball. I liked what it did in that last battle."

"Who'll you teach it to?" Vanessa asked.

"Probably Grovyle. I like the quickness of bullet seed but it doesn't pack a whole lot of a punch. It still knows leaf blade which I think is actually the strongest of the three but it's close range. It needs to know something long range too."

Energy ball ended up being the only TM that I purchased. Vanessa was the last one out of the shop. I was pretty sure she had bought a few TM's as well. She didn't say anything about it so we didn't ask.

There was a small motel a block away from the pokemon shop. We got two rooms. Dylan and I shared one and David and Vanessa shared the other. I felt a little lame but as soon as we got inside the room I laid down on the bed and prepared for sleep.

"You're seriously going to bed?" Dylan asked. "It's like nine."

"Hey, you know what? I finally have a nice bed. I'm not sleeping on the ground. I'm going to enjoy this and hopefully recharge my batteries."

It took a while for me to actually fall asleep. Dylan had been flipping through the limited channels on the small television when I finally faded away. It may have been early but it was totally worth it.

Dylan was still snoring when I woke up. At first I considered not getting out of bed. However I knew I'd have to eventually so I just bit the bullet. Being showered and shaved felt fantastic. My face no longer itched with the scraggly beard I had been sporting. Dylan shaved his off too but when we met outside, David was still rocking his. He had however trimmed it up nicely into a goatee. David could pull off the goatee. Dylan and I could not.

After a quick continental breakfast, we were on the road.

A little bit into the day, I remembered what Dylan and I had talked about in the pokemon shop the day before. Not ready to commit with energy ball, I still had ice beam. I pulled out a poke ball and tossed it onto the ground. Mudkip was thrilled to learn the new attack.

We didn't get a chance to try out ice beam that day. We only passed a couple of trainers. Most of them ignored us. One of them challenged Vanessa. We weren't far enough away from civilization to be finding tough trainers. She rolled over the younger girl without much trouble.

Hours blended into days and the days began to blur together. I had lost track of how long we had been on the Pass before we had reached the town. Not long after we had left, time had been skewed again. I had a vague idea but I wasn't sure.

The battles and stress from them hadn't helped my personal time warp.

Trainers had begun to come out of the woodwork. It was becoming much like those first few days when challenges came one after the other. The theory of tough trainers being far away from civilization became useless as tough and beginning trainers were all rubbing shoulders out here.

Not knowing what might be coming our way contributed heavily to the stress on our shoulders. Having somewhat of an idea of the level of trainer we'd come across would help with preparation. Thinking we were going to go up against a skilled trainer and then going against a rookie was messing with us. And vice versa.

I went into a battle expecting to run over my opponent. I barely scraped by. The next battle I was all geared up to be taken to my limit. I crushed two low leveled grimers with my sandshrew. It all began weighing us down.

I voiced this feeling to my friends one night.

"I know what you mean," David agreed. "I never know what I'm getting in to."

"It came back to bite me," Dylan added. "Dustox went down. Apparently pokemon that can't fly can learn aerial ace."

Time dragged on. We continued to find ourselves bombarded with challenges. With no idea when we might encounter the next pokemon center, we started trying to avoid other trainers. One pair caught up with me and David and we were coerced into battling them. I had tried to angle for a double battle but I was overruled.

We separated from the others and I began to consider my options. The match had been decided to be a one-on-one battle. Normally in these kinds of situations, I'd want to go with one of my big guns like Charmeleon, Grovyle or Heracross. Unfortunately, all of them had battled recently. Corphish was the only pokemon I had that was completely fresh but I wasn't ready to rely on it and only it in a battle like this. Sandshrew had gotten some experience lately but not enough for it to carry a battle. In the end, the only real option I had was Mudkip.

My opponent already had a poke ball in her hand. She was a good few years older than me, probably mid to late twenties with long black hair tied back. In her other hand she held something unexpected: a palm pilot or something similar. I had no idea what she could possibly be using that for except maybe a surrogate pokedex.

"Ready?" she asked with a casual smile. I was pretty sure she had said her name was Megan.

I nodded and tossed Mudkip's poke ball to myself. "As I'll ever be."

"Good. Let's go!"

My pokedex wasn't needed for me to identify her pokemon. It was covered in orange fur and had a splash of blue around it's eyes like a mask. Hands were at the ends of both it's arms and legs. A fire burned on the tip of it's tail. Her monferno would not match up well against my water pokemon.

I caught a flash of surprise that flickered across Megan's face as Mudkip appeared. She seemed to have been expecting something different although I couldn't figure out why.

I pointed at the monferno. "Here we go Mudkip! Water gun!"

"Flamethrower!"

The pillars of water and fire slammed together in the middle of our makeshift battlefield. I had expected the water gun to cut right through the flamethrower, completely decimating the attack and the attacker. Instead the two attacks detonated in an eruption of warm mist. The flamethrower had been a very powerful one.

It was right then that I realized I was not in for a cake walk.

"Monferno, mach punch!"

The fire monkey pokemon pulled back it's right arm like it was going to punch despite being a considerable distance away. Then it launched. It shot like a missile across the field and the punch smashed into the side of Mudkip's head. The water pokemon was flung off to the side.

"Water gun!" I yelled.

Mudkip bounced once as it landed. It swiveled in midair and came down on all fours. After a split-second to locate it's enemy, Mudkip fired the water gun. This time the distance between the two pokemon was much less. Monferno didn't have a chance to ready a flamethrower. The water attack slammed into it's chest and then tracked upward to it's face. The fire pokemon was flipped over backwards.

Monferno climbed back up to it's feet, looking both wet and angry. "Ferno!"

"Kip!" Mudkip retorted.

Despite being in the midst of a battle, I noticed that Megan had tapped out a few notes into her little electronic device. It creeped me out a little that she was keeping notes on me. It also angered me that she wasn't taking this battle seriously enough to give it her full attention.

When she finished her note, she looked up. "Mach punch!"

It was what I had been expecting and I was ready. "Ice beam at the ground!"

That caught Megan's attention.

A small blue orb formed in Mudkip's mouth. From it jetting out what looked like light blue lightning. Whatever the lightning struck, it froze. In this case it was freezing the ground at a rapid rate. Monferno was blasting across the field and suddenly slammed into a rising wall of ice. The fire pokemon bounced off and used it's speedy punch to shatter the ice wall.

Through the shards of ice cut a powerful water gun that I had called for. The current of the water picked up some of the ice shards as it passed them and slammed them into the surprised monferno as well. Caught in midair, the fire pokemon was easily cut down and driven into the ground.

I smiled to myself. I had formed that plan quickly and it had worked to perfection. My opponent's preoccupation with her note taking had left her easy prey to such radical tactics. However, it wasn't likely to work again.

Megan's full attention was on the battle now. "Flame wheel!"

Monferno somersaulted forward as it began breathing out fire. In the blink of an eye it was a rolling inferno. Grass and dirt was scorched as it rolled towards my pokemon.

"Mud slap!" I shouted.

Mudkip dug it's paws into the ground and heaved the clumps of mud. They splattered against the rolling fire, flinging dirt everywhere. Monferno didn't waver at all. The ground attack had done no damage.

My mind raced. There had to be a way to break through the flames and halt the oncoming fire pokemon.

"Water gun!"

As my pokemon fired the water attack, the wheel of fire changed. It flexed in at the top and then suddenly bounced into the sky. The water gun pasted harmlessly underneath. That had been the last thing I had expected. Monferno was practically on top of Mudkip now.

Inspiration struck at the last possible moment. "Bide!"

A white glow outlined Mudkip a half second before impact. Digging it's back feet into the ground, it pushed back against the rolling flames. Slowly Mudkip was pushed backwards. It's feet left deep trenches in the ground. All the while it was taking damage from the fire.

"Now!" Megan yelled. "Mach punch!"

The flames disappeared almost instantly. Coming out of a flip, Monferno landed on it's feet and cocked an arm back. Mudkip braced itself but the glowing punch still toppled it backwards. I could see that my pokemon was slightly dazed. Megan and Monferno had gone for the knockout shot.

"Here we go!" I bobbed my head to a tune only I could hear. "Bide!"

The glow around Mudkip pulsed. It all swam forward over the water pokemon's body and then fired out in a beam. Monferno was struck in the chest and the resulting explosion hid it's body.

It had been a powerful attack but I wasn't convinced it was over just yet. "Water gun!"

The familiar bubbling noise filled my ears as the pillar of water shot out of Mudkip's mouth. At first it past right through the remaining smoke. Then Mudkip swept it to the side. For a moment it didn't emerge from the smoke. Then it burst free, dragging a monferno along the ground with it.

I couldn't see for sure but that had to be it. Unless this monferno was incredibly well-trained and high leveled, there was no way it could've withstood several water attacks along with the bide attack.

As if to confirm my suspicions, I heard Megan say "Good match."

She returned her monferno to it's poke ball and I followed suit. She waved me over. I assumed she just wanted to give me my winnings. Instead she had wanted to talk.

"So why do you use a mudkip?" she asked. "Don't you have any other water pokemon?"

The question surprised me. "Well, I have a corphish."

"Why not use that then? When it evolves it becomes part dark-type. That's a really useful type."

"Because Mudkip was the second pokemon I ever caught. And when it evolves it'll be part ground-type and only have one weakness and one immunity and four types that aren't very effective against it."

This woman was really starting to get on my nerves now. First she had barely paid attention during our battle. Now she was calling into question my pokemon choice.

"Yes but it'll be doubly weak against grass-types," she countered.

"Yeah, well it's a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll," I snapped. "Why the hell do you care anyway? You're just some trainer that I just beat and will most likely never see again!"

Megan paused. Confusion flickered across her face. Suddenly I had the feeling that I had missed something.

"You really don't know, do you?" she asked.

"Know what?"

"Who and what I am." She showed me her palm pilot. It had been recording our conversation. She cleared that screen and pulled up a website. After logging in, she made a few taps and pulled up a webpage. A webpage that had my name and picture on it.

I took the device from her and looked at it closely. The picture of me was from the gym in Chicago, mid-battle. Below it was a list of my known pokemon.

"What the hell is this?"

She laughed. "I'm what's called a scout. We help track pokemon trainers with what we think is lots of potential. There's lots of us. Once you register for a trainer ID, you get put into the system."

"So anyone can see that?" I asked, still a little suspicious.

"Well, not this page," she shook her head. "This is the special scout site. Regular people can see your regular bio. We can see comments put in by other scouts, gym leaders and others. Let's see… Steven the gym leader in Detroit gave you a rather glowing review."

I played something back in my head. Something from the beginning of our match. "That's why you were surprised to see my mudkip."

The scout nodded. "Our most detailed accounts of you list a charmander that later showed up as a charmeleon and a treeko that evolved into a grovyle. I had expected you to be using one of those."

"Wait, a charmeleon?" I was surprised. "Who turned in that report."

"The Guardian," Megan said with a smile. "He turned in a pretty positive report on you and some other guy that was with you."

She showed me the screen again but a different page. "This shows me all the trainers that have been seen in my area. I can pull up their information and recent locations. Then I can try to seek them out and put them through the paces. There's actually a couple others around here that are so far pretty highly thought of."

She gave me their names.

I laughed. It was my three friends. Apparently Nurse Sarah that had overseen Dylan's battle with Colin had written a glowing review of him. Vanessa had encountered a scout without knowing it like I had just done. David's review had come from the Guardian like mine.

"We also have a ranking system for un-established trainers," Megan continued. "Once you get into the League you get formally ranked where everyone can see it. Right now, you're ranked where only scouts and gym leaders can see it. No, you can't see it."

She had answered my question before I could even ask it.

"Are most scouts as obvious as you?" I asked, nodded my head towards the palm pilot.

"Not usually, no," she replied with a laugh. "This is a new system I was trying out. Clearly it didn't go so well."

She was about to say something else but stopped. After looking around for a moment, she found the backpack she had been carrying back where she had stood for our battle. She waved for me to follow and we went over to it. Picking it up, she rummaged around for a moment and offered me what she pulled out.

"What is it?" I asked as I took it in my hands.

It was small and made of cold metal. It looked a lot like a pop can that had been drastically reduced in size. The item might've been able to fit inside a poke ball even. I turned it over a few times in my hands to examine it for any identifying markings. A small line was encircled it about a quarter of the way down from the top.

"It's called a metal coat," she explained. "You can use it to evolve some types of pokemon. I came across it by accident and haven't any use for it. You might not either but the odds are better with you. It's yours."

She paid me my winnings and walked off with a wave. I glanced around for my friends. Vanessa was just coming away from a battle that she appeared to have won. David was standing a few feet away from her. His battle had apparently been very quick.

"Time to get moving, eh?"

I jumped slightly as I spun around to see Dylan there. I doubted that I was the last one to win my match but my conversation with Megan had made it seem that way.

"Sure, let's roll," I said. "I've missed walking."

I thought a bit about what Megan had told me about the website. Regrettably, I realized that I had never actually asked the address for the site. It couldn't be that hard to find though. She had said there was a section for the average trainer. I decided against telling my friends so that I could show it to them later and look all cool.

That night I argued for us to take a detour off the path to a nearby town. No one was out of supplies or needed anything else but I wanted to sleep on something that wasn't the ground. At first I had everyone but David convinced. Then Dylan realized we'd lose half a day in getting to the town and then back to the path. Tempers flared and voices rose. Eventually I was outvoted. It was a cold and silent night on the ground.

Several days later, a pokemon center appeared along the path.

I couldn't decide if I was more grateful to sit on something comfortable or to have all my pokemon fully healed. It wound up being a tie.

This time it was Vanessa who argued that we should stay and rest at the pokemon center. I was against it because I now just wanted to get off the damned path. Dylan was with me, also because he didn't mind sleeping on the ground as much as I did. David was caught in the precarious position of trying to not agree with his girlfriend but not make her mad either.

It had started out as a civilized debate. However, sometimes when you spend a lot of time with people your patience for them get really short. We escalated from talking to shouting in less than three minutes. From there it only took another minute before Dylan grabbed David by the collar. David had no fear and clamped his right hand around Dylan's throat. Vanessa managed to wedge herself between them before any actually violence could occur.

We spent that night on the road.

The next few nights were also spent on the road. They were very, very quiet nights. Dylan and David wouldn't even look at each other. I had gotten into a quarrel with Vanessa and we weren't talking either. I tried talking to David but that made Vanessa made. If Dylan tried to talk to Vanessa, David got mad. We spent much time with our respective traveling partners.

"Only two more days of this," Dylan told me quietly one night around a fire Charmeleon had started for us. "Then we reach Jersey City. More importantly, we get off this path."

I ran my fingers through my greasy hair and immediately regretted it. "I can hardly wait. The trainers around here are still pretty tough. It's pretty stressful."

"Personally, I think we could all use some real rest and even some relaxation." Unconsciously, Dylan looked towards Vanessa and David.

Our other friends (or at that point, friendly people we were walking near) were about ten yards away at their own campsite. I had to imagine that they were probably having a similar conversation. Maybe we should've taken Dani's warnings about the Pass a little more seriously.

"Ever think maybe we should've taken things a little slower?" I asked, voicing my concerns. "I mean when we left, we had like eleven and a half months to qualify for the League Tournament this year. We've already got two badges and it's been… hell, how long has it been?"

"Don't quote me but I think it's almost August if it isn't already."

I grimaced and then shifted around, trying to make the grassy spot I had made my seat more comfortable. "See? This is all happening so fast. I mean, I've only had pokemon since May. Now here we are however many months later. We've got two badges already and in the middle of a stretch of a path where I'm pretty sure the majority of the trainers are as good, if not better than us and have been at this a lot longer than us."

"Technically, we're at the end of the path," Dylan corrected me. "We've been on this thing for nineteen days now I think. Maybe twenty. But yeah, I know what you're saying. Things seemed to happen very quickly. I could use a vacation."

There was a moment of hesitation before I asked the obvious question "Are we in over our heads?"

Dylan paused for a moment before answering. "I don't think so. Maybe a little, but not all the way. If we were, we wouldn't have made it this far already."

That night I didn't sleep particularly well. I didn't sleep all that badly either but I didn't feel very rested for the next day regardless. My back ached from the hard ground and it slowly translated itself into a headache. Most of the day I spent walking off the side of the trail to avoid contact with others.

Sadly, I had not packed or had somehow lost any aspirin. I asked Dylan but he didn't have any. He was willing to bet that Vanessa had some though. That was out of the question for me. I wasn't willing to swallow my pride to ask her despite not really even remembering what had caused our tiff in the first place. I just trudged on ahead, temples pounding.

I managed to make it through the day without battling. Dylan and Vanessa were not as lucky although they were probably less against battling at the time than I was. Dylan worked with Croagunk some more. They were turning into a pretty good team. Vanessa used her cubone and rattata. Rattata was getting thrashed pretty good but Cubone was able to step in and seal the deal.

"This is it," Dylan said the next morning. "We should be getting to Jersey City today." He fiddled with his GPS. "We made pretty good time yesterday. I think we should get into the city probably around three or four this afternoon."

I threw my hands into the air in mock excitement. Really though, I was pretty pumped about getting to actual civilization. Eating prepackaged food and drinking warm water from a canteen was really not my idea of a good time. Nor was sleeping on hard ground. Even the beds at the pokemon centers would look good after this.

Things seemed to be going our way early on. We had evidently either crossed into New Jersey last night or some time that morning. There was a train station not far off the Path that was offering some type of special discount today. When I ran over to investigate, I discovered that there was a train that would drop us off right outside of our destination for a very low price.

Cutting hours off our journey for less than twenty dollars apiece was an easy pitch to make. We were on the train in a matter of minutes.

From the outside, Jersey City New Jersey looked a lot like every other city I had seen. Outside the main city were the neighborhoods with some nicer looking houses. In the heart of the city, buildings reached for the sky. Both apartment buildings and businesses towered overhead. Nearer to the eastern side, the smell of salt water from the Atlantic Ocean was present in the air.

Pokemon centers were at a premium. Apparently having a Pokemon League Gym in the city had given rise to a whole lot of centers. Every few blocks we saw one. They were more frequent than Starbucks. We stopped at the second one we saw. Surprisingly, it was actually somewhat busy. A line had formed to get pokemon restored to full strength.

"I hope all these people aren't here because the gym leader smacked them around," Dylan muttered.

"Ok, let's go," David said eagerly after our pokemon had been healed.

I blinked. "Go where?"

He gave me an incredulous stare. "To the gym of course!"

"We just got here! Can't we take it slow for a little bit? Maybe grab a bite to eat and take a break?"

Vanessa joined the conversation. "We can eat on the way. I think we should go knock this gym down. Then we can rest."

I was pretty sure I heard Dylan mutter something under his breath about how of course she'd agree with David. Eventually we gave in and followed them. Picking up some sandwiches from a street vendor satisfied our hunger but I had a feeling I was going to regret having the pastrami later.

After walking through the bustling streets for a while, David suddenly stopped. I had been unprepared for the abrupt halt and ran into him. When we separated, I saw what had given him pause.

Surrounding the area were tall skyscrapers but in the middle of all of them was a patch of luscious green grass. Built onto the grass was a white building with brown roofs and clearly Asian architecture. No one could come up with the name of the style but we had all seen the high pointed roofs in numerous pictures. It looked like the whole area had been picked up out of feudal Japan and placed here.

"I think we found ourselves a gym," David said. He pointed to a sign that confirmed his diagnosis.

We followed the white stone path up to the large wooden doors and pushed our way in. Inside was a large room painted white. A large door with something written in a language I couldn't even begin to read stood in front of us. On each side was a smaller door with the same language written above it. Small benches lined the open walls with statues placed in between. All of them appeared to be of Asian make as far as I could tell.

At first I thought there was a strange statue of a man in front of the big door. It had loose looking pants that appeared to actually be cloth. The torso was covered by a thick sheet of metal that had raised portions that were probably supposed to look like bricks. Thick leather sleeves covered the arms. A helmet that looked a lot like a samurai helmet but less extravagant covered the head. It was the same basic design but there were only tiny horns on it as opposed to the larger ones that I usually associated with the samurai. A sheathed sword hung from a thick belt at it's waist.

"Welcome."

The word sent a shockwave through our group. After a second, I realized that the statue had said it. Then it became clear that it wasn't a statue, it was a man.

He took the helmet off to reveal jet black hair and an Asian slant to his eyes.

"I am Isamu," he said in perfect English with only a tiny trace of an accent. "I am the Gym Leader here. I presume you're here to challenge me."

"Yes sir," Dylan said, stepping forward. "We've come to claim the Soul Badge."

"Are you truly prepared?" Isamu asked us. "Are you ready to face the wrath of the ninja? Can you withstand my poisonous onslaught?"

"Actually, I have a question first," Vanessa broke in. "Why aren't you dressed like a ninja?"

I half expected Isamu to be insulted but he just smiled.

"This is actually ninja battle armor," he explained. "The black cloaks that are more popularly associated with the ninja may have been worn as well but this is true ninja armor, handed down through my family."

"Oh, ok." Vanessa went silent.

"I do tend to wear the black cloaks from time to time though as they are more comfortable, as you might imagine." Amusement twinkled in his eyes.

The ninja clasped his hands behind his back. He took a few steps to either side as he sized us up.

"Who among you has felt the horror of a poisoned pokemon?"

I was about to say something but I hesitated. I realized that I had faced poisonous pokemon but I couldn't remember any of mine ever actually being poisoned. My friends appeared to be having thoughts along the same lines. None of us spoke.

Isamu smiled. "I shall show you no mercy! Pokemon is not all about brute force- you shall see soon enough!" His voice began to rise in both volume and intensity. "Poison brings steady doom. Sleep renders foes helpless. Despair to the creeping horror of poison-type pokemon! You shall be the first!"

He was pointing at Vanessa.

Without a word, she followed him through the massive door he had stood in front of. There was a mighty crash as it closed behind them.

The three of us remaining each took a separate bench. David slouched backwards with his head resting against the wall. His eyelids drooped in thought. Dylan stretched out on a bench in an exaggerated attempt to look relaxed. He was betrayed by his eyes darting around the room. I hunched forward on my bench with my chin resting on steeped fingers.

In a matter of moments I was lost in my own thoughts. I checked through my options as I tried to build the team I would take into battle. Despite it's lower level, Sandshrew was a must. Charmeleon also had a guaranteed spot on the team. Grovyle was the only pokemon I had that I could instantly eliminate as it was the only one actually weak against poison. Other than that, it was kind of up in the air.

While I had been mentally preparing, Isamu had come back into the room and claimed Dylan for the next battle. Vanessa didn't appear back in the room so I assumed there was a waiting room somewhere. I had totally lost track of time and had no idea how long it had been between the battles. There was no way to guess whether Vanessa had won or not.

When Isamu came for David, I realized that there was no clock in the room. There was nothing moving at all. Nothing I could use to keep track of the time. The way the room was colored and decorated it seemed to cloud my sense of time. I could've been there one minute or ten. By the time I remember that I had my phone, it had been too long to figure out how long I'd been waiting.

The massive door creaked open. My eyes darted up to see Isamu standing there, hands on his hips. I tried to read his face to determine how my friends had faired. His steely face and hard black eyes betrayed nothing. I would have to wait until I was done with my match to find out.

"Are you ready?" he asked me. "Are you ready to watch your pokemon succumb to my poisonous techniques?"

I stood. "No." Then I added, "I'm ready to beat your pokemon."

Isamu smiled. "Confidence. We'll have to do something about that."

Through the big door I followed Isamu. Like the gym in Detroit there was a small hallway that led to the actual battling area. It was a low ceiling passageway with small paintings of exotic flowers along the walls. The effect was slightly soothing. I shook my head quickly and tried to fight off the feeling. The last thing I needed was to be soothed.

The battlefield itself was very normal. The field itself was a light brown rock or hard clay with the official battlefield outline drawn on top. A small man in a black cloak stood on a raised platform. At first he confused me but then I realized he was the judge.

Isamu spread his feet and dug into the ground in his box. "Are you ready?"

I gave a curt nod. "Ready."

"We shall battle four-on-four. One must defeat all his opponent's pokemon to claim victory. As Leader, I shall go first. Go!"

A giant pile of purple sludge burst out of the poke ball. At first I thought it was just a big grimer. I turned out to be partially right. When I saw that the left arm was much bigger than the right and a strand of sludge connecting the upper and lower jaw, I realized that it was a muk. It was what my own grimer could evolve into one day.

I considered my options for a moment. Sandshrew was my only pokemon that was strong against poison but it was not one of my strongest. After a moment of internal debate, I decided to use the ground pokemon. If things started poorly I could always switch out to Charmeleon or Heracross.

"Sandshrew, go!"

The muk overshadowed my pokemon by at least a foot. To it's credit though, Sandshrew hid any fear that it might be feeling. It glanced around at the field and nodded to itself. At first I didn't understand why but then it occurred to me that it was probably making sure that it could dig into the ground. In retrospect, it was something I probably should've checked first.

As long as things seemed to be satisfactory, I decided to go with it. "Sandshrew, use dig!"

In a graceful diving arc, the ground pokemon disappeared into the floor. There was a moment of stillness as the muk waited to see what would happen. Isamu gave it a nod and it oozed forward. Slowly from side to side, the poisonous pokemon slithered to the center of the field.

"Now Sandshrew!"

"Pound Muk!"

Muk raised up it's larger left arm and paused in the air. A small crack appeared in the ground at the base of the pile that was Muk. There was a mighty boom as Muk slammed down at the crack. Chunks of the hard earth were tossed about. The poisonous pokemon's arm sludged down, completely filling the hole it had just created.

"Dig again!" I shouted, hoping my pokemon was still conscious.

The small pebbles that had showered out of the newly formed hole trembled slightly and I took that to mean that Sandshrew was still functioning. Muk pulled it's arm back and moved backwards slightly.

"Muk, return!"

I did a double take as Isamu recalled his pokemon. He had only used one attack but that had apparently been enough for him. My mind raced as I tried to break down this unusual move. I had to put my thoughts on hold as Isamu sent out his next pokemon: a drapion. This was a pokemon I was at least familiar with.

The gym leader pointed at the ground. "Toxic spikes!"

Drapion reared back and a glowing purple ball formed in it's mouth. I wasn't sure where this was going so I just let Sandshrew linger underground for the moment. Despite Isamu pointing at the ground, Drapion fired the purple orb into the air. About twenty feet in the air, it popped like a balloon. Glowing purple pieces rained down to the earth with purple smoke trails behind them. They were absorbed into the ground which briefly flashed purple. Then nothing happened.

"Now!" I shouted.

Sandshrew burst out of the ground with it's fist aimed at Drapion's head. What neither of us accounted for was the poison pokemon's maneuverability. It's whole upper body darted backwards in the blink of an eye. My pokemon sailed past without even grazing it's opponent. Then Drapion's pincers lashed out and closed around Sandshrew.

"No!" I exclaimed. A drop of nervous sweat trickled down my face. "Swift!"

"Poison fang!"

The two big fangs on the side of Drapion's mouth glowed a bright purple. The glow traveled all the way down to it's claws where the glow intensified.

"Dra!" the pokemon roared.

The claws erupted in a mighty explosion. Sandshrew sailed out of the explosion with a stream of black smoke following it. The small yellow pokemon bounced off the ground. That was the only movement that came from it.

"Sandshrew is unable to battle!" the ref declared, speaking for the first time. "Drapion is the winner!"

Isamu recalled his drapion as I did the same with my sandshrew. Without waiting for me to pick a pokemon, the gym leader returned his muk to the field. I felt my nose crinkle as my annoyance grew. For some reason, I felt like I wasn't being respected.

It was time to change that. "Charmeleon, let's go!"

Charmeleon burst from the ball and slammed down on the field, flames already flickering from it's mouth. Then purple lightning lanced up from the ground. It traced it's way all the way up my pokemon as it roared in pain.

"What the yell was that?" I snapped, glaring at Muk to see if it had struck.

"Toxic spikes," Isamu explained calmly. "I have seeded the field with my poisons. Any pokemon that touches this ground will feel it's wrath."

I broke into a flop sweat. If I was understanding what the gym leader was telling me, all my pokemon were as good as poisoned. It was suddenly becoming clear just how stacked the odds were against me.

"Alright then," I growled. "We'll make the most of our time then. Charmeleon! Flamethrower!"

Through what appeared to be a painful crackle of purple Charmeleon blasted out a mighty pillar of fire. It was met at midfield by Muk's sludge bomb, a barrage of dark balls of sludge. At first I was confident this would go my way. Then the spread of the sludge bomb got wider. Balls of sludge began pelting Charmeleon. The barrage caused it to lose focus and the flamethrower cut off. The full brunt of the poison attack struck, punching my pokemon off it's feet and slamming it into a wall.

"Charmeleon!" I roared.

The little sludge missiles continued to batter the fire pokemon. I called for it to try and escape but there was nowhere for it to go. Sludge bombs were slamming into the wall all around Charmeleon, up to three feet away. Even rolling from one side to the other gave no refuge. I began to quickly lose hope.

Charmeleon's flamethrower flickered back to life. It got off enough of a burst to stave off the sludge bomb for a split-second. That was all the fire pokemon needed. Still covered in the filthy brown ooze, it dove off to the side and rolled back up to a standing position. Then the poisonous purple sparks forced it down to one knee.

Isamu took advantage of our moment of weakness. "Shadow ball!"

Muk held up it's hands. A black orb grew out of nothingness to float between them. The poison pokemon pushed it forward and it flew at Charmeleon at an alarming speed. Still crippled by the poison, Charmeleon didn't have a chance at dodging. When the explosion cleared my pokemon was prone on the floor.

"Charmeleon is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Muk is the winner!"

As I recalled Charmeleon, I tried to think out my next move. I resorted to talking it through in my head.

_Ok. Got two pokemon left. What do I use? Grovyle? No… weak against poison. Mudkip knows a ground attack but not a strong one. Pikachu? Hmm… Maybe. Quick enough to dodge but it's going to be poisoned right away. Wait… Heracross? Eh, still going to be poisoned right away. Wait… wait… THAT'S IT!_

"Heracross, go!" I shouted with newfound enthusiasm.

The blue beetle pokemon flashed into existence. Isamu showed no reaction. The second that Heracross touch the floor, the purple lightning lanced up it's body.

"Heracross!" my pokemon screeched. Then something changed. It's eyes now glowed a furious red. "Hera! Hera cross! HERACROSS!"

Now Isamu took a step back. He hadn't expected that. His own toxic spikes had triggered Heracross' ability of Guts. Now my pokemon's attack power was increased by fifty percent. Heracross already boasted impressive attack strength and having it boosted was nothing to be taken lightly.

"Muk, return!" Isamu commanded. "Drapion, come forth!"

The changing didn't surprise me. Heracross would've had an easy time getting around Muk with the bug pokemon's ability to fly and the muk was not so fleet of foot. Drapion was far more agile and able to defend from all angles thanks to it's long body and tail.

I decided I didn't care either way. "Heracross, aerial ace!"

Heracross leapt into the sky and raced towards the ceiling. It slowed slightly as it came close then kicked off to start building up speed. The familiar white energy began streaming from it's horn.

"Drapion, cross poison!"

The big purple pokemon crossed it's arms so that they were facing the incoming bug pokemon. They began to glow purple. With a roar of "Dra!", it slashed it's arms out. A glowing after-image of an X shot towards Heracross.

"Dodge it!" I wasn't sure what the attack would do if it made contact and I didn't really want to know.

Heracross made a hairpin turn and the X flew past. It exploded against the ceiling. My pokemon made another sharp turn and barreled into Drapion. The poison pokemon swatted Heracross aside after being pushed back a foot. The bug pokemon flailed around the air but still managed a painless landing.

"Horn attack!"

Heracross charged forward and slammed it's horn into Drapion's midsection. The poisonous pokemon snarled and staggered back. Heracross rammed into it again. Again, Drapion was driven back a few steps.

"Slash!"

Drapion's claws glowed white and got longer.

I was ready. "Night slash!"

Glowing white claws met glowing purple claws. Heracross stood it's ground but the drapion was too strong for it. Drapion powered through my heracross' night slash and drove it down to one knee with it's strike. Then the other arm swept across with another slash. Heracross was tossed up and backwards.

"Finish it!" Isamu crossed his hands in front of his body. "Cross poison!"

Heracross was just rising as Drapion fired it's purple X.

"Brick break!" I frantically screamed.

I saw the horn of my pokemon began to crackle with the telltale sparks of brick break but then I lost sight of it in the explosion. My breath caught in my throat. I could only hope that Heracross had been able to cancel out the cross poison with brick break.

I was wrong.

"Heracross is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Drapion is the winner!"

At that point, I wasn't sure what to do. Two of my strongest pokemon had gone down and between the two of them, had landed three attacks. It was clear now that I was horribly overmatched.

I sent Pikachu out and winced as the toxic spikes claimed it too. My heart really wasn't in it any more. As much as I believed in myself and my pokemon, there was too much to overcome with what little I had left. I was now battling one-on-four.

A cross poison overpowered Pikachu's thunderbolt and it was over. The poison had caused it to wince and lose focus for just a moment. That slight lack of power was all the glowing purple X needed.

After we had put our pokemon away Isamu came over to talk to me. I heard him but I didn't listen. Everything he was saying just went in one ear and out the other. I was shell-shocked from the beating I had taken.

"Huh?" I said as I drifted out of my funk a little.

"I will see you again, yes?" Isamu asked, his hand extended to shake.

"Probably." I shook his hand. "Eventually."

The gym leader had new challengers to attend to so the ref led me over to a room off the side of the battle area. We passed the station where I would've been given a badge. Following that was the card swipe machine where winnings would've been transferred to my trainer account.

Inside the room were my three friends. All of them wore similar expressions to the one I could only imagine I was wearing. Vanessa was actually close to tears. No one said anything as I slumped down in a chair next to David.

All four of us had just been thoroughly, thoroughly destroyed in a way we didn't even know was possible.


	27. Chapter 27

No one said anything for a long while. The heavy silence sat over our heads, unbreakable. Eventually David dragged himself to his feet and made for the exit. One by one we all followed. No words were exchanged as we mindlessly marched back to the closest pokemon center. I was too depressed to even move out of the way of oncoming people, bumping into a number of them.

We remained quiet all the way into the pokemon center. A nurse cheerily greeted us and got silence in return. She must've seen this often because she didn't really seem to be offended. After collecting our pokemon, she disappeared with a smile.

I sank down onto a bench. My elbows rested on my knees and my head drooped down between them. Dylan came over and gave me a pat on the shoulder before sitting down next to me. His body language was different but I could tell he was just as depressed.

After a while our pokemon were returned to us. I looked at them sadly before tucking them back into my belt. Now leaning back in my seat, I noticed that David was standing up. He looked like he was itching to go somewhere. I nudged Dylan with my elbow and he stared up at David.

"You got somewhere to be?" Dylan asked.

"Yeah, we all do," David snapped back. "Let's go."

I shook my head. "Where are we going?"

"Back to the gym. We weren't banned like in Chicago. Let's go."

Dylan shot to his feet. "Are you nuts? We just got killed! What's the point of going right back there?"

"What do you want to do?" David snarled, his blue eyes flaring. "Sit around here and mope? We need to go back and challenge Isamu again!"

Now I was up on my feet.

"That is a little soon," I said a little heatedly. "Unless you did a lot better than I did, we're nowhere near ready to face him again."

I wasn't sure what got said after that but things began moving very quickly. I put a hand on David's shoulder and he swatted it off. Vanessa said something that I don't think was very nice. Dylan lurched forward and grabbed David by the shirt and swung him around. There was a flash of white that we all ignored as all of us began shouting at each other. There was a quick series of purple flashes and everything faded to black.

The first thing I was aware of was my head pounding. Everything was black but I realized that was because my eyes were still closed. I forced them open and winced at the light. Glancing to my right, I saw that I was seated on the ground and leaning up against a wall in the pokemon center next to my three friends. Then I looked forward and saw something unexpected.

"Croagunk?" I asked.

The poison pokemon had it's arms crossed over it's chest. A pleased look was on it's face. It glanced down the line of people and nodded to itself. The others began to stir as well.

I started to stand when I realized that I had a very tender spot on my stomach. Underneath my shirt, I found a round purple bruise just under my rib cage. I just blinked at it for a moment as I tried to figure out how exactly I had gotten it. It wasn't until Croagunk held out it's hand that the pieces started to fall into place.

"You did this?" I asked, noticing that the bruise was the same size and shape of one of Croagunk's fingers.

"You knocked us out?" Vanessa groaned, joining in on the conversation.

Croagunk croaked out a response that I didn't understand.

"Croagunk stopped us from fighting," Dylan said as he unsteadily got to his feet and Croagunk gave him a nod. "Probably a good idea."

"Yeah… we might've gotten a little carried away," David agreed as he helped Vanessa up.

I also got up and asked the obvious question. "Now what?"

There was a moment of silence.

"I think we should separate for a bit," David said slowly. "I think we're all a little sick of each other, to be honest."

We all nodded our agreement.

"So we all go our separate ways," I continued the thought. "For how long? A week? A day? Forever?"

There was a very pregnant pause.

Vanessa volunteered an idea. "How about we all do whatever we want for like two weeks? We can go train or go challenge the gym again. Hell, we could go on vacation. Then we meet back here. If we haven't beaten the gym, we do that and then head to the next one."

I scratched my chin stubble. "I like that idea. Everyone's happy I'd think."

The others agreed. We all exchanged handshakes in what was a slightly awkward moment. David departed first with his arm around Vanessa. Dylan and I waited until they were out of sight.

"So do you still want to stick together?" Dylan asked me.

"Yeah, sure," I replied. "Beats the hell out of being alone. But where do we go?"

"How about lunch? I'm starved."

I had to admit that I was quite hungry as well. We wandered about the city for a bit until we came to a sandwich shop with outdoor seating. I ordered a club sandwich and Dylan got an Italian grinder. We didn't say anything outside of our orders for a long time.

"Seriously though," I began. "Where are we going to go? We need somewhere where we can train and maybe even catch a new pokemon or two. I don't think there's a place around here like that. Going back to the Pass isn't an option."

Dylan's reply was preempted by the arrival of our food. The waitress sat down red plastic baskets in front of us containing our sandwiches and a side of potato chips. My friend's comments were further forestalled as we each bit into our meals.

"I think we agree that staying here isn't the answer." Dylan washed his mouthful down with a sip of pop. "So let's not stay here. We're not that far from Pennsylvania or New York. Why not go there?"

I froze with my sandwich in my mouth. Dylan had just given me a brilliant idea. I pulled the sandwich out of my mouth and set it down.

"I've got an idea. My uncle Bill lives in New York!"

Dylan looked at my skeptically. "Ok, so we know someone that lives around here."

I shook my head. "It's more than that. He owns an outdoors sporting shop! He takes groups whitewater kayaking like every other month. If anyone would know of a place around here to train it'd be him!"

This sounded more appealing to Dylan. "Ok, now you've got me. Call him up!"

I hesitated. "Um, yeah… I don't have his phone number saved. Let me make a call. Or two."

Digging out my phone, I punched in a number. My mom didn't answer her phone so I tried my dad. When he answered, I explained what I was trying to do. He gave a laugh that I didn't quite trust. He explained that he didn't have the number at work and that my best bet would be to call my grandma.

I groaned. I love my grandma but she tends to talk a long time on the phone. This call proved the point. By the time I had finished the conversation and gotten my uncle's phone number, I had completely finished my food. And paid my bill.

Leaning back in my chair, I dialed the number I had been given. After a few rings, someone picked up.

"Hello?" asked a female voice that I recognized instantly.

"Hey Aunt Caroline, it's Tim!"

"Oh, hi Tim!" she exclaimed. "How are you doing? How're your travels going?"

I began to recount the last few months for her. She said she had been reading my occasional email updates but liked hearing the live version. It took a few minutes but I finally told the tale all the way up until the present.

"Oh, I see what you mean," she agreed. "A timeout is just what you guys need. Some time to relax and a private training area would be perfect to get your minds refocused."

A smile formed on my face. That's what I liked about Caroline, she always said the right thing.

"Bill's at work right now," she continued. "I'll call him and have him call you. Should I give him this number?"

I told her that'd be fine and said goodbye. Dylan and I pealed ourselves out of our chairs and began walking down the streets. The sting of our losses to Isamu were finally beginning to fade.

"Hey, how are we going to get to New York?" Dylan asked. "Or wherever we might end up going?"

I shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"Let's go see if we can find a bus station or something."

We asked a street vendor for directions after buying ice cream from him. As we ate and walked, my pocket began to vibrate. I dug the phone out and answered it.

"Tim-bo!" roared a voice in my ear.

"Hey hey! Uncle Bill!" I laughed. "How're you doing?"

"Pretty good! Your aunt called and told me about what you and your friend want to do. I think I might be able to help."

"Really?" I was surprised that it had taken so little time.

"Sure!" he boasted. "Remember when you were… I don't know… like six and your family came up to New York with the rest of the family and we stayed in that lodge up in the Adirondack?"

My eyes rolled up and to the side as I tried to remember. There was something fuzzy in the back of my mind. "Vaguely."

He chuckled. "I didn't really expect you to. Anyways, I can probably get you that lodge or something similar. That particular one is pretty out of the way so you won't be bothered."

"That'd be perfect!" I shifted my phone to my right hand and glanced at the time display real fast.

"When can you guys be up here?"

"Don't know yet. We're on our way to the bus station."

"Alright, I'll make some calls and get back to you. Just hop on the first bus to New York and I'll meet you there."

"Awesome! Thanks Uncle Bill!"

Dylan had probably gotten the gist of things just from my side of the conversation but I relayed the whole thing to him anyway. When I described what very little I remembered of the lodge, he agreed that it sounded like just what we needed. With our destination now confirmed, we picked up our pace to the bus station.

In the movies, when the heroes get to the bus station, they always seem to find the exact bus they need just about to leave. Either life was less like the movies or we weren't the heroes of our own story because we had to wait for over an hour for our bus to depart.

I used our delay to make another phone call. Instead of another family member, this time I called Professor Oak's offices. Since we were going to be training, I decided it wouldn't hurt to see what some of my other pokemon might offer. One of his aids answered the phone and agreed to have my butterfree ready for transfer and explained how to get a pokemon transferred to me once I got to a pokemon center.

The bus was surprisingly more comfortable than I had expected. The seats were covered by an ugly yet comfortable blue cloth. There was enough space between my seat and the one in front of it that my legs weren't cramped. The vehicle did lack an overhead storage area but the seats were mostly empty so we stowed our bags in unoccupied seats.

About twenty or so minutes into the ride, Uncle Bill called me back.

"You only wanted the place for about two weeks right?" he asked.

"Yeah," I replied. "We're supposed to meet back up with our friends in Jersey City two weeks from today."

"That's what I thought," Uncle Bill said, more to himself than me. "Well, that lodge is available if you want it and it's even got a pokemon restoration machine. It's been pretty slow for the guy who owns it so he's gave me a deal. And because he knows me. Two hundred bucks for the two weeks but that's just staying there. There's no food. You'd have to buy your own. Or he said for three hundred, he'll have it stocked with food by the time you get there."

I repeated the offer to Dylan. He was onboard for the food option.

"We'll take it!" I stated firmly. "Preferably with the food."

My uncle laughed. "That's probably a good idea. It's a twenty minute drive to the nearest store from there and you won't have a car."

I told him when and where we would be arriving and he said he'd meet us there. After we hung up, I settled in for a long trip. It would take us over three hours to get to our stop. Then, using his GPS, Dylan estimated that it'd take us probably another thirty minutes or so to get to our final destination. With that depressing news in mind, I closed my eyes for a nap.

For close to two and a half hours, I slept on and off. When I finally awoke for good, Dylan and I passed the remainder of the time by playing cards. It was well after five o'clock when we finally set foot back onto solid ground. I had just finished my stretching routine when a big shadow appeared over me.

I looked up to see a solid man a few inches taller than me with a healthy beard. There was no mistaking my Uncle Bill. Although he was into his sixties now, you could still see the traces of the hippie he'd once been. After we'd embraced, I introduced him to Dylan. There was a quick stop at a nearby pokemon center for me to retrieve my butterfree and then we were on our way.

As we drove, Dylan and I gave my uncle the extended version of our journey so far. As an outdoorsman, he was pretty impressed with the level to which we had been roughing it. The length of time we had spent on the Pass particularly impressed him.

Either Dylan's early estimates had been wrong or Bill just drove really fast because we were at the lodge in under half an hour. Once I saw it, I recognized it instantly. Hidden back in the trees stood the old wooden building. It stood two stories high with a balcony that ran all along the second floor. There was also a large porch that ran around most of the front. Both the porch and balcony had several wooden charis set out. When we got closer, I realized that it wasn't as tucked into the trees as I realized. It had a berth of probably close to thirty feet of treeless area. Area that would be perfect for battling.

Inside the big front door it instantly began to look like a ski lodge. There were couches and chairs scattered about. Alone in one corner was a pokemon restoration machine that Bill had said would be there. Along one wall was a long table that looked out an even longer window. Smaller tables were nearby and a few feet from them was a bar. On one side it had bar stools and the other, rows of glasses, plates and a full oven and stove with pots and pans to match. Built into the wall was large refrigerator, that like the close by cupboards, had been stocked with enough food and drink for two guys to live here for a week.

Up a massive wooden staircase was the second floor. It was open in the center with just a railing separating one from a long fall. The rooms were all in a ring around the upper level and Dylan and I each threw our bags into a different one. Both rooms had king sized beds with extra linens and private bathrooms.

"Man, I could get used to this place," Dylan said as he thundered down the stairs. "This place is awesome!"

Bill laughed. "Yeah, I've spent some good times here. I've told the owner what you're doing here and he's ok with it as long as you don't burn anything down. So try not to do that. Also, there's a lake about thirty yards out the back there. Other than that… that's all I can think of. I don't know if you'll get cell phone reception here but there is a land line. If you need to go into town, follow the driveway to the road and turn right. Follow that and take the left fork. Goes straight into town."

I glanced at the kitchen. "I think we'll be alright for a while. Shouldn't need to go anywhere, I'd guess."

"Don't just stick around here." My uncle shook his head and pointed to a side of the lodge. "There's some mountains and caveds out that way. You can see them from here. I'd go check them out if I were you as long as you're careful. There's been onix spotted there in the past among other pokemon."

We invited Bill to stay awhile but he said he should probably get back to my aunt and my cousins. He promised he'd be back for us in thirteen days like we asked unless he heard otherwise. He gave me another big hug. Dylan offered his hand to shake but Bill bypassed it and pulled him into a big hug. Probably for no other reason than to make Dylan feel awkward.

After watching him drive off from the porch, I moved to one of the chairs. It was made of wood painted white. It sat fairly low to the ground and reclined just a bit. I laughed slightly when I remembered it was called an Adirondack style chair. Dylan sat in the chair next to it. For a long while, we just enjoyed the silence.

"This was a good idea," Dylan said finally.

I reached up and tucked my hands behind my head. "It really was. So… how do we want to go about this training stuff?"

Dylan sighed as we faced the inevitable. "Not sure. Personally, I think we should take the rest of tonight and at least tomorrow off. We've earned that much. Could probably let our pokemon roam a bit too. They deserve some vacation too."

"Agreed." I emphasized with a nod of my head. "But we should still come up with some ideas for training."

"Battling," Dylan said with a shrug. "Perfecting attacks. Maybe even trying to learn some new ones. Anything really because what we've got apparently isn't cutting it right now."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him fidget. I decided to broach a previously silent subject. "How did your battle with Isamu go?"

Dylan hesitated for a long moment. "Not well. Shit, that's an understatement. He wiped the floor with me. He used two pokemon and absolutely crushed all four of mine. I don't know if I even caused any damage."

"That sounds about how mine went," I assured him. "He didn't even need to use a second pokemon. I think he did just for kicks. His muk would've been plenty strong most likely but he brought out that damned drapion to use toxic spikes."

Dylan turned to look at me. "Muk, eh? He didn't use that one with me. The drapion I faced but he used a skuntank against me. I had no idea it could use flamethrower. Cooked Dustox and Bulbasaur in one shot."

"That's all it took for most of my pokemon too. Toxic spikes ruined me. I think Heracross got in the only shot I landed and that's because when it got poisoned, it's attack power got amped up."

My friend stared off into space. "There's probably a way to counter toxic spikes. We've just got to find it."

Nothing more was said for a long while. The sun began to fall below the horizon and we moved to the indoors to find some food. Still exhausted from our day, we took the easy way out and made sandwiches from deli meats on paper plates. With a bag of potato chips between us on the bar we ate in silence.

"Place could us a TV," I grunted.

Dylan barked a laugh. "Wouldn't do any good. There's no way you could get cable or even local channels all the way out here. Unless we had a DVD player and some DVDs, it'd be useless."

I couldn't argue with the logic so we resumed our silence.

When we had finished, we disposed of our plates and walked back outside. The lake was right were Uncle Bill had said it was. It's water was crystal clear and smooth as glass. We stood there admiring it's beauty for a few minutes. Then Dylan reached down to his belt and pulled out a poke ball which he tossed it into the lake. The ball burst open to release it's contents and then flew back to his hand. Gyarados now towered above us.

"Hey buddy," Dylan said to the giant water serpent. "We're taking a bit of a sabbatical. Next day or maybe two days will be relaxing. Thought you might like to spend some time outside." He pointed over towards where we were staying. "I'll leave your poke ball out on the porch incase you decide you want to sleep in it or anything."

Gyarados rumbled it's understanding. Then it arched backwards and disappeared beneath the water.

"We should go get the rest of our pokemon," I suggested. "They'd all like this."

Dylan nodded his consent and we headed back towards the lodge. We had most of our pokemon with us on our belts but some of our alternates were in our backpacks. We'd only have to explain what was going on once if we released them all together. It took me a matter of minutes to gather all my pokemon together and get back outside.

I tossed the poke balls out one at a time and slowly gathered my friends together. The last pokemon that appeared was my new butterfree. It had a roundish purple body with big blue feet but small blue hands. Two massive white wings kept it afloat in the air while it's two large red eyes looked me over.

"Everyone, meet Butterfree," I said, drawing all the pokemon's attention. "Butterfree is the newest member of the team."

I then explained to them how the last gym battle had gone badly. They all took it surprisingly hard even though I stressed it was no one's fault except mine. Then I explained where we were and what we were doing. I pointed to a small table and informed them I'd leave all the poke balls there if they wanted to stay in them and that they were free to wander around as long as they didn't go too far.

There were some murmurs and nods and then they all began inspecting one another and conversing.

Charmeleon and Grovyle eyed each other strangely at first before beginning a lively conversation. I wondered for a moment and then realized that I didn't think they had actually seen one another since they had evolved. Mudkip bounded around happily and tried to get Grimer to play with it.

Dylan and his pokemon came over and the air was thick with tension at first. Croconaw was the first to venture to the other group, having recognized Charmeleon and Grovyle. The two groups began to slowly get acquainted.

Zigzagoon made friends with Butterfree and the two drifted off. Heracross and Croagunk instantly recognized the fighter in the other and quickly struck up a conversation that I had to imagine was about battling. Dylan's bulbasaur and elekid wandered away from the others without saying much. Dustox ended up playing with Mudkip while Corphish, Pikachu and surprisingly Quilava headed for the lake. Grimer and Sandshrew sat together and eventually were brought into the conversation of the fighting pokemon.

"This is actually a little strange to watch," I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

"I'm just grateful they all got along," Dylan sighed. "It would've been hard to keep them from fighting if they didn't." He paused for a moment, considering his words. "Are you actually going to use your grimer?"

I didn't answer right away. Mostly because I wasn't sure and said as much. "Maybe eventually. I don't know. Seems like a nice pokemon but I've only used it in battle like twice now. Although… after seeing what Isamu's muk can do, it's tempting."

"I know what you mean," Dylan said as we sat back in our chairs. "I like Zigzagoon but it's been a long time since I've used it and it'll have a pretty steep learning curve to catch up to my other pokemon. I feel bad giving up on it though."

My right eyebrow arched. "What about your oddish? That kind of dropped off the face of the planet."

Dylan sniffed a laugh. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Maybe it's more that Zigzagoon was the first pokemon I caught. I feel like it deserves some loyalty for that. I owe it more than just the little bit of time I used it for."

"Now that I can understand." I smiled. "That's why Mudkip will always be my primary water pokemon."

Producing his pokedex from a pocket, Dylan was silent for a few minutes as he read. I tried to see what he was reading but it was too far away for me to make out.

"You know, I bet Zigzagoon isn't too far away from evolving," he said finally. "I'm not crazy about the moves it learns naturally but it can be taught some good ones. I bet I can find it some time on the battlefield in that case."

About to say something, I lost my train of thought as Dustox floated by with Mudkip bounding after it as it tried to catch it. I couldn't help but laugh. Seeing all the pokemon relaxed and having fun made it all that much easier for me to relax. All my worries just seemed to melt away as I watched the two pokemon play.

That night I slept like a rock. The bed was large, comfy and warm. I hadn't slept that well in probably over a month. The next morning I was completely refreshed. After a shower and a shave, I felt like a new man. The only thing that seemed out of place was my hair. I hadn't cut it since we had left home and it was getting pretty long. It was long enough that I had to tuck it behind my ears so it wouldn't drive me crazy.

When Dylan emerged from his room, he too was all cleaned up but there was one distinct difference: his hair was cropped short.

"Hey, what the hell?" I protested. "How'd your hair get so short?"

He grinned a devilish grin. "Someone left a pair of clippers in my bathroom. It feels great to have short hair again."

Eventually after I whined enough, Dylan took me out onto the balcony to cut my hair. When he was done my head felt so much cooler. I checked it out back inside at a mirror and found it to be pretty well done. Dylan had somehow managed to get it close to the style that I normally had it in without butchering it. Not that it would've mattered if he had since I had spent the last three months wearing a hat.

In the kitchen, I lit a burner beneath a big cast iron skillet and cracked a few eggs into it. Dylan manned another skillet with bacon and we took turns with the toaster. It was the most glorious breakfast we had eaten in forever. Even though I was full, I considered scrambling a few more eggs just because they tasted so good to me.

Outside, our pokemon were already awake and active. At first this surprised me but then I noted the placement of the sun: it was probably close to, if not, eleven in the morning.

Slept like a rock indeed.

Sticking to our decision yesterday, we relaxed. I had found a bookshelf inside one of the bedrooms with some novels on it and we took them outside to read. Doing practically nothing felt absolutely amazing. We enjoyed doing it for several hours before we headed inside for lunch.

"Want to go check out those caves and mountains your uncle told us about?" Dylan asked, indicating their direction with his pb&j.

"Yeah sure, although that does violate our relaxation idea," I cautioned. "Exploring for new pokemon isn't relaxation."

Dylan shrugged. "Yeah but it's not work. It's what we do. It's fun!"

I couldn't argue with that.

Once we had finished our lunch, we headed back outside to gather up a few pokemon. I found and asked Charmeleon, Grovyle and Mudkip to come with me, figuring they gave me a good covering of the types. They all agreed and I put them into their balls. Dylan met up with me after collecting his bulbasaur, croconaw and croagunk. With our parties ready, we headed off to the east where the mountains loomed in the distance.

It wasn't a long walk to get there. Well, once we got started anyways. About thirty seconds out I had realized that I didn't have any empty poke balls and had to run back to the lodge and gather some from my bag. After the minor setback, it took us about forty minutes to get to the base of the first mountain at a fair walking pace.

Dylan announced he was going to start searching around the base of the mountain. I pointed to a cave about thirty feet up the rocky face and declared it to be my hunting grounds. When I completed my climb up to the cave, I began to have second thoughts. Despite it still being early in the afternoon, the cave was pitch black. It looked as if somehow it never got any sun.

Luckily I had just the cure for darkness. "Charmeleon, I need your assistance!"

With the fire pokemon at my side providing light with it's tail flame, I ventured into the cool, damp cave. It didn't open up into a great cavern like I had expected but continued through the mountain in it's narrow tunnel form. Occasionally it would branch out into other tunnels and Charmeleon would leave slash marks on the walls to mark our path for our exit.

"I don't know," I said to the fire pokemon after a while. "Maybe there's nothing in this cave. I guess we should head back."

The fire pokemon just gave me a shrug. As I turned about face, I gave an involuntary shudder. The temperature seemed to have rapidly dropped. I looked over at Charmeleon to see it's eyes darting around nervously. I began searching the area too, not really knowing what I was looking for.

Then I saw it floating just a few feet in front of us.

It was kind of roundish and purple with three thick spikes going backwards out of each side of it's head. Two three-fingered hands floated separate it's body in front of it. Big white eyes stared back at me and a jagged mouth formed a strange, happily knowing grin.

"Well I'll be damned," I breathed and thought for a second I could see my breath. "A haunter."

"Haunter!" it screamed and punched forward with one of it's hands. A translucent image of it's hand shot forward through the air and slammed into Charmeleon's chest. The fire pokemon stumbled back. Clearly the ghost pokemon knew why I was here and if it was going to be captured, it was going to make me earn it.

"Charmeleon, flamethrower!"

The chill I had felt in the air was immediately gone. The rush of fire scorched the walls of the cave and smashed the haunter backwards into the ground. It rebounded quickly and shot off another one of it's ghostly punches. Charmeleon tried to dodge but the fist swung after it and punched right into the fire pokemon's chest again.

I considered calling for dragon rage but then realized the explosion could bring the whole cave down on us. "Flamethrower!"

Charmeleon leapt forward to close the distance between the ghost pokemon and itself. The close range flamethrower was considerably more powerful and I could see the haunter begin to weaken.

"Fire fang!"

With a mouthful of fire, Charmeleon bit down on the haunter. I wasn't sure how this was going to work on a ghost-type but I got the expected fiery blast. The haunter now levitated wobbly, blackened char coating part of it. Disoriented, it turned away from me.

I saw my chance and hurled an empty poke ball.

The ball touched the haunter and repelled back slightly as it converted the ghost pokemon into energy and pulled it inside. The ball dropped to the cave floor with it's light flashing. It wobbled once. Twice. Then the light shut down. I smiled as I walked over and picked up the poke ball. The light flashed once more but then remained dark.

"Good work," I said, giving Charmeleon a pat on the back.

I considered something for a moment and then tossed the poke ball. The haunter burst forth. It swiveled around and then locked in on me. We had a momentary stare down. Then the haunter began to laugh.

"Haunt haunt haunt!" it bellowed cheerfully.

"That's a relief," I smiled and held the poke ball back out. "Welcome to the team Haunter."

Back outside the cave, I found Dylan waiting for me. He had his arms crossed over his chest with an interested look on his face.

"I'm guessing you caught something," he said once I was back in the sun. "I felt a burst of heat that I'm assuming was Charmeleon."

I nodded. "I got lucky. I didn't find a rock or a ground pokemon."

Dylan motioned for me to continue.

"I caught a haunter."

His eyes bulged out. "No way!"

I looked to Charmeleon and the fire pokemon nodded to confirm what I had said. "You catch anything?"

He shook his head to clear his shock and then held up a poke ball. "Yeah, actually. I caught a gligar."

It was my turn to be surprised. "I thought those lived on cliffs."

Dylan shrugged. "They like forests too. I think this one was in transit. I think I'm going to train it up a bit too. A ground-type would be really helpful against Isamu."

A tremor in the ground cut off my reply.

"What the hell was that?" I asked as I steadied myself.

The ground rumbled again.

"I think it came from that way." Dylan pointed around the mountain. "Come on!"

I followed him as we weaved our way through the rocky terrain. There were faint smooth areas that resembled paths that we tried to stick to but they headed up and not up and around. A clump of trees rose up and we navigated through them. As we continued on, the rumbles increased in frequency and intensity.

Dylan stumbled and I passed him as we came up to the top of a ridge. I nearly slid off the edge. What I saw was astonishing.

"Holy shit."

It was a group of onix. Five of them loomed up in the air. A smaller one, maybe only twenty feet long, was curled up on the ground. The biggest onix roared and slammed it's tail down on the small one. The ground shook. The small onix roared in pain and opened it's mouth but clearly whatever it was expecting to happen didn't. The other bigger onix slammed their tails down on the small one.

Dylan repeated my curse when he saw what I saw.

"We've got to do something!" I snapped. "They're going to kill that small one!"

Without another thought, I jumped over the ridge. I managed to land on my feet and slid down the loose rock. Dylan was hot on my heels. We were still probably twenty yards away and the small onix appeared to have already taken a lot of damage. Finding my balance at the bottom of the ridge I took off running.

"Hey!" I yelled at the big rock pokemon. "Hey! Leave it alone!"

There was a flicker of regret as all five of the thirty foot long rock snakes turned to look at us.

I grabbed a poke ball from my belt and threw it. "Mudkip, water gun!"

"Bulbasaur, razor leaf!"

Mudkip targeted the closest onix on the left and Bulbasaur honed in on the closest one on the right. The two attacks pushed back the two onix on the ends. Unfortunately, that still left three more coming at us. There was a white flash and suddenly another water gun appeared. Croconaw had joined the battle.

Dylan caught my eye. "This isn't a battle or trying to catch a pokemon. This might actually be life or death."

I took the hint. "Grovyle! Bullet seed!"

Grovyle sprayed it's bullet seed around and was barely able to inflict damage on the remaining two onix. They continued to advance on us. Mudkip had forced it's onix back and moved to take one of Grovyle's. Focusing on one target, bullet seed proved more effective.

"Grovyle, leaf blade!"

"Croconaw, ice fang!"

The onix we were attempting to save let out a low groan.

Two light blue bolts lanced out from Croconaw's fangs and forced the closest onix back. Grovyle leapt into the air and whirled around, slashing at an onix with it's glowing blade. Rocks appeared out of thin air and began circling the unengaged onix's head. The rock snake roared and suddenly the rocks changed directions towards Mudkip.

"Water gun!" Dylan and I yelled in unison.

The two water pokemon swirled their water guns around, trying to track the dozens of rocks. Most of them they were able to blast out of the sky. Some managed to sneak past but still smashed harmlessly on the ground.

With all the pokemon distracted, I made a break for the downed onix. Grovyle fell into step with me and launched itself at an advancing onix. I slid to a halt next to the rock pokemon's head. It rolled a big eye to look at me.

"Come on, you've got to move!" I urged it. "We'll get you to safety!"

It gave a low grumble and didn't move.

For a second, I considered just capturing the pokemon. I rejected the idea, feeling like it would just add insult to injury.

"Move!" I yelled at it. "We'll get you healthy and then you can come back! I'm not going to capture you! We're trying to save you!"

This time, it gave a little more determined moan.

I was debating what else I could possibly say when the onix moved. It wasn't moving quickly but it was moving. Without lifting it's head it began slithering towards the ridge Dylan and I had come from. I followed along side it and broke into a jog as the onix realized that it actually had a chance at escaping.

"Fall back!" I shouted to my pokemon. "Hold the line!"

Dylan ran after the tail of the onix and our pokemon closed up after him. They stood in a line, all still attacking with their ranged attacks. Staggering their targets they managed to keep the angered onix at a healthy distance.

At the base of the ridge, Dylan and I struggled. The rock was too crumbly and we couldn't maintain footing. Suddenly there was something solid pressing against my back. The onix had scooped us up onto it's head and began ascending the cliff face. Holding onto the onix's horn with one hand, I reached back with the other and recalled my pokemon. Dylan did the same.

When we got to the top where we had first seen the onix group, Dylan and I jumped off. We broke into a full run back towards the base of the mountain. Everyone now and then I would check behind me. Contrary to what I expected, the onix continued to follow us. Also surprising was that the bigger onix didn't give chase. I half expected to have to battle all the way back to the lodge.

When we reached the base of the mountain and the original path we had stared up, I slowed to a walk and then stopped completely. Breathing deep, I grabbed at my side. Dylan paced around with his hands on his hips, also breathing deep.

I looked up at the onix. "You ok?" I asked between breaths.

It just gave me a sad moan.

"It's ok," I said, giving it's hard rock body a pat. "We've got a big open area where you can rest and recover." Something occurred to me. "How come you didn't fight back?"

The pokemon didn't respond. It just looked away from me.

"You were outnumbered, I get it," I assured it.

One eye glanced at me. It looked tragically sad.

Something dawned on me. "Oh… _oh_. Well… don't worry. We'll get you fixed up."

Rocks ground together as it whipped it's head to look at me. It had a look of both fury and hope in it's eyes.

"We'll think of something."

When we reached the lodge, I showed the onix where it could rest for now. I promised to come check on it in a bit. Dylan and I went inside the lodge and took turns using the restoration machine. Once our pokemon were healed and back out of their poke balls, he turned to me.

"You figured something out. What was it?"

"Well, I think I did," I said. "I think that onix can't use attacks. That's why it wasn't fighting back. It tried to do something when I first saw it but couldn't."

Dylan's eyes narrowed. "You told it we'd get it fixed up. How do you plan on that?"

I shrugged. "Don't know. I'll think of something."

Our pokemon dispersed and I rounded the lodge to find our newest guest. Haunter floated along beside me for a moment and then drifted off after Charmeleon. I found the onix curled up in a circle, it's head resting on it's tail. Sandshrew sat by it's head, not doing anything; just sitting.

"You doing alright Onix?" I asked it, putting a hand on it's tail.

It didn't respond.

"You just relax and get some rest. Sandshrew'll keep you company."

Getting no response again, I withdrew to my chair on the porch. I fished my pokedex out of my pokemon and turned it on. Pointing it at Onix, the little machine pulled up all the information it had on the species. I tucked one hand behind my head and began to scroll through the text. Although informative, none of it pertained to my current dilemma.

I decided to change my tactics. I began pulling up all the information I could find about pokemon attacks. Again, it was all informative but unhelpful. I was beginning to get frustrated. I just started pulling up topics at random but nothing was useful. With a sigh, I put the pokedex away.

Pushing out of the chair, I went back inside the lodge. I went back to the bookcase that I found previously. The top two shelves out of five had been smaller paperback books, most of the novels. The bottom three, however, had big thick hardcover books. One of them was bound to be a text book.

I ran my finger along their titles, silently mouthing them as I read them. I got all the way to the bottom and frowned. I started from the bottom and worked my way back up. Then I checked the paperbacks. Absolutely none of them were going to be helpful.

With a frown I left the room and headed for my own. I grabbed my bag off the floor and snagged my cell phone out of it. Back downstairs, I opened the contacts list from my phone to find a certain number. I picked up the landline and dialed the number.

After a few rings someone picked up.

"Hi there," I said. "Is Professor Oak available?"

The receptionist asked me my name. After I had identified myself, she said that the professor was on the premises but she wasn't sure there. I offered to hold if she could find him for me. I hinted that it was kind of important for me to talk to him.

"Oh alright," she agreed. "It may take a few minutes."

"Thanks so much," I said sincerely. "If you can't find him easily, I can always call back later."

She put me on hold. I hummed along with the hold music, a little surprised that Professor Oak even had hold music. While I waited I pulled the handset as far away from the base as I could, all the way to the fridge. I could just barely reach the pitcher of lemonade we had made last night. While I was pouring myself a glass, the hold music abruptly ended.

"Ah Tim!" Professor Oak's creaky voice filled my ears. "Good to hear from you. I take it you got my voicemail!"

"Err." I glanced down at my phone. It was still registering no signal at all. "Um, actually no. I have absolutely no connection where I'm at. When did you call?"

"Last night. Probably around seven or eight. Or at least my time. Where exactly are you?"

I gave him the abridged version of where we were and how we'd gotten there.

"Yeah, I was actually calling for a different reason," I finished up. "But what did you call about?"

Oak cleared his throat. "It seems that there's been a rash of pokemon-related crimes as of late. Trainers are baiting into battling by someone using a weak looking pokemon. Then they switch out to something far more powerful. After they defeat the trainer, they don't take just money but pokemon as well. Have you heard anything about something like that?"

At first I was going to say no. Then something occurred to me. "Well, not lately, no. But remember when you called me about the piloswine my pokedex had recorded on my way to Chicago?" Oak grunted his remembrance. "Yeah, those guys did kind of the same thing. They never got a chance to try and steal our pokemon though. We beat them."

"Hmmm… I do remember that now," Oak said and I could practically see him rubbing his chin in thought. "Interesting. I'll have to pass that along. Now, what is it you were actually calling for?"

I took a deep breath. "Well… we found this onix. It was getting beaten up by some bigger onix so we… intervened. I got the onix that was being attacked to follow me and we managed to get it away from the others. At first I thought maybe it was because it was smaller. Turns out that it can't use any attacks."

"It can't use attacks?" Oak repeated.

Nodding, it dawned on me that he couldn't see me. "Yeah, nothing. It kept looking like it was going to bite but then nothing would happen. I looked through my pokedex and couldn't find anything that might explain it."

Oak hummed to himself in thought. "That is interesting. There's been documented cases of pokemon not being able to use attacks for a period after evolving but nothing like this."

"Any suggestions?"

"I can't think of anything off the top of my head," the professor said sadly. "Keep trying to get it to use attacks and maybe something will work." He was quiet for a moment. "Where did you say you were again?"

"The Adirondacks," I provided. "In New York."

Oak put me on hold again for a moment. I sipped at my lemonade.

"Tim?" he asked when he returned. "One of my colleagues is actually not far from where you are. His specialty isn't really in this area of things but he still may be able to help. Should I send him to you? He was going to be passing through nearby soon anyway. I don't think he'd mind the pit stop."

"Sure!" I agreed and then put the phone down to check the address on the outside of the house. "Tell him there's plenty of rooms here if he'd like to stay the night too."

"I will do that. I'll call him after we're done. Can I call you at this number if I need you?"

I told him that would be fine although we were spending most of our time outside and might not hear it. We said our farewells and hung up.

Back out on the porch, Dylan was relaxing in his chair. He waved me over. I lowered myself into the other chair.

Pikachu and Mudkip bounded past, chasing each other around.

"Who were you on the phone with?" Dylan asked, eyeing the two pokemon.

"Professor Oak. I was hoping he might have some advice on how to help Onix."

"And?"

I sighed. "He doesn't know. I guess he has some colleague in the area that's going to stop by and take a look though."

Dylan looked over at me. "When's he coming?"

"Dunno." I gave him a shrug. "He didn't say. Said he was going to be passing by here soon and he'd ask him to stop by."

My friend snorted. "That's kind of vague."

"I know."

Silence reigned for a moment before Dylan spoke again. "What now?"

"I'm going to go check on Onix again," I said and heaved myself up. "Then I'm going to go find a pad of paper or something. I want to figure out exactly how I'm going to go about this training."

I hopped down the wooden steps, each of them squeaking under my weight. Onix was right where I had left it. It was like it had morphed into a giant statue. Sandshrew still sat nearby. The ground pokemon had crept closer while I was away, now right next to Onix's head. They were both silent as I approached.

"Hey there." I put my hand on Onix's head. With the other I reached down and scratched Sandshrew behind the ears. "Doing alright?"

I got no response from the rock snake.

"I need to understand completely if I'm going to help you," I pressed forward. "You can't use any attacks, right?"

Onix made a sad noise.

"Have you ever been able to?"

It repeated the sad noise which I took to mean no.

"So now attacks ever," I repeated just to see if the pokemon would correct me. "Could your parents use attacks?"

That got an angry grumble which I assumed meant that they could.

"Ok, that's all helpful. I know some experts and I made some calls." I guess technically I had made only one but it sounded better this way. "They're doing some research. Hopefully we can figure out something."

Onix made the sad noise again and looked away. I took that to mean the conversation was over. After giving Sandshrew a pat on the head, I left the pokemon in peace. Dylan was still sitting on the porch so I sat back down in my chair. He seemed to understand that I had made no progress without me having said anything.

"What do you want to do for dinner?" Dylan asked out of the blue.

"Thought I saw some burger patties in there," I said after thinking of what I had seen in the fridge. "We don't have a grill but we could still cook them in the skillets."

"Game on."

Remembering what I had said before, I went inside to look for a pad of paper. Eventually I found a yellow legal pad in one of the rooms upstairs that had a desk. Sadly there were no writing utensils and my hunt for a pen lasted ten minutes. With both of my crucial items obtained, I returned to my seat on the porch.

Despite having both pen and paper now, ideas didn't flow. Instead I actually sat there without writing a thing until Dylan announced he was ready to start dinner. After devouring two cheeseburgers while enjoying the scenery on the porch, I set my plate on the ground and returned to my pad.

I lost track of time as I continued to fail at planning a training regiment. My best idea was to make some kind of running exercise like they always show football players doing during training camp. I had no idea what the purpose of the exercise was so I decided to scrap it.

"You're thinking too hard," Dylan said from the chair next to me, novel in hand. "You don't need some detailed plan. You've got to play it by ear. Just work with your pokemon and figure out what they need to work on."

My response died in my throat as I caught sight of Dylan's bulbasaur and elekid creeping around the edge of the woods to the other side of the house. Bulbasaur seemed to be trying to show Elekid something. It snickered and then pointed with it's front paw. After a moment, I realized it was making fun of Onix. The two pokemon were suddenly aware I was watching them and headed back the way they came.

Eventually, I took Dylan's advice and put the pad back where I had found it. It was less that I was taking his advice and more that I hadn't thought of a plan and I was ready to go to bed. With the window open to let in the breeze, I slept soundly again.


	28. Chapter 28

After breakfast the next morning, I went outside to begin my training and to do so without a thought out training regiment. I had a few ideas about what I wanted to do but it was more of a loose outline than a finely detailed plan. There was always time to work out a detailed plan if this didn't work out.

My first order of business was to locate Grovyle's poke ball and then the grass pokemon itself. I found Grovyle down by the lake. It was sitting with Heracross and Quilava, enjoying the fresh air. For some reason, I found the trio an odd one. Grovyle and Heracross together didn't surprise me but the inclusion of Quilava did a bit. The fire pokemon seemed to really enjoy the lake for reasons unknown. All three pokemon sensed my arrival and stood. The grass pokemon looked at the poke ball and then at me.

"I've got something for you," I said to Grovyle.

I dug into my pocket and pulled out the shiny disk of a technical machine. Popping the poke ball open, I snapped the disc inside and closed it again. I pointed the laser at Grovyle and the pokemon disappeared into the ball. With a flick of my wrist, I tossed the poke ball. Grovyle reappeared and a small shower of shiny dust fell to the ground.

I smiled. "Grovyle! Energy ball!"

The pokemon's yellow eyes flared. It pulled back it's hands, holding one above the other with their palms facing. A small green orb appeared between them. It grew rapidly in the a pulsing ball of green and blue energy. Twisting it's hands around Grovyle shoved the energy ball forward. The grass atttack shot out and exploded in the lake. A plume of water shot into the sky.

Gyarados emerged from the depths, looking confused. It swiveled around in a search for the source of the explosion. I waved at it. That seemed to be enough for the pokemon and it disappeared back beneath the waves.

"Nice work," I said to my pokemon. "I think we're going to be replacing bullet seed with that. Has a little more kick to it. I liked the versatility of bullet seed but it isn't going to pack enough of a punch when we start facing really powerful pokemon."

"Vyle." Grovyle nodded it's agreement.

"We're going to start training today." I glanced at Heracross to make sure it was listening. "Help me round up everyone by the porch, will you?"

The two pokemon nodded and took off. I began to head back to the house. Corphish emerged from the water to scuttle after me. I felt bad that I hadn't even known it was there. After I waved down Butterfree as we passed it, the bug pokemon floated after us. Dylan's zigzagoon joined the parade until it realized that I was only rounded up my own pokemon. The furry pokemon went back to sniffing around on the ground.

By the time I reached the porch, almost all my pokemon were present. Heracross rounded the corner of the lodge with Sandshrew to complete the group. Walking around the group, I stepped up onto the first step and turned to face my pokemon. They all remained silent and looked up at me.

I took a deep breath.

"So today we're going to start doing some training today since that's kind of the reason we're here. Since there's a lot of you and only one of me, I'm hoping you can do some training on your own. You don't have to spend all day training but any work you put in would be much appreciated. I plan to work with everyone at some point though. I'm hoping by the time we leave, we'll all be a much stronger team. Today… I want to start with our new members. Butterfree and Haunter, we're going to get familiar with each other and see what we can do."

Taking a moment, I looked around and considered what else to say.

"Sandshrew, I have an idea for you: I want you to work with Onix. The best way to perfect a move is to teach it to someone else. I want you to try and teach Onix to use dig. Maybe you can help Onix too. I guess… I guess that's pretty much it. If anyone wants to stay and more or less be a target for Haunter and Butterfree, that'd be appreciated."

Pikachu ended up staying to help out with my feeling out process with my new pokemon. The others dispursed, hopefully to go train. Butterfree and Haunter floated in the air in front of me. I scratched my chin as I took them in. I had already seen Haunter in action so I decided to start with Butterfree.

I took my pokedex out and studied the entry on butterfree for a moment. "Butterfree, gust!"

The butterfly pokemon rose up in the air as it beat it's wings. Visibly strong air currents slammed down on the ground. Pikachu reared up on it's rear legs and crossed it's front legs in front of it's face like an X to brace itself against the wind.

"Confusion!"

Butterfree's normally red eyes glowed a bright blue. An invisible psychic blow struck Pikachu and knocked it backwards. The electric pokemon rolled into a somersault and came up on it's feet.

I consulted the pokedex again. "Poison powder?"

Butterfree shook it's head.

"Don't use this but stun spore?"

The bug pokemon bobbed enthusiastically. That left more than likely just one more attack. I was hoping that it would be psybeam but I didn't think it would be.

"Supersonic?" I asked.

Butterfree chattered an affirmative.

That made for a very useful moveset. The bug pokemon could confuse a foe or paralyze it. Then it could also attack with a flying- or psychic-type move. I could use Butterfree in a complimentary role or as a primary attacker if need be.

"Well done Butterfree," I said. "You're up next Haunter. You still doing ok Pikachu?"

Pikachu gave me a thumbs up as Haunter and Butterfree exchanged places.

"Let's see now," I muttered as I consulted the pokedex again. "We already know about shadow punch… Night shade!"

The ghost pokemon's eyes glowed red for a split-second. Jagged black beams outlined in red blasted Pikachu. The electric pokemon was shoved backwards and eventually toppled over.

I was about to call for another attack when I felt something bump into my leg. Looking down, I saw the familiar brown and black fur of Dylan's zigzagoon. It looked up at me in surprise. Then it barked once, put it's nose back to the ground and wandered off.

"Strange…," I said to myself. "Right then, Haunter! Shadow ball!"

The ghost pokemon made a sad face.

"That's all right. How about lick?"

Haunter gave a laugh and then swooped down at Pikachu. A huge pink tongue emerged from it's mouth as it neared. A loud slurping sound accompanied the tongue running up the electric pokemon. Pikachu didn't look too happy and I had to struggle to keep a straight face.

"Hypnosis!"

Haunter's eyes glowed blue. Circular waves began pouring out of them, honing in on Pikachu. Pikachu managed a few steps and then slumped to the ground. The electric pokemon was completely asleep. I smiled as I recalled it to it's poke ball.

"Good work Haunter. I'm going to go get Pikachu healed up and then I'll be back."

I bounded up the stairs and into the lodge. Placing the poke ball into the restoration machine, I made myself comfortable for the wait. Through the large windows in the dining area I saw Mudkip scamper by. Then Corphish came scuttling around the corner and fire a bubble beam. The shellfish pokemon then ducked under a return-fire water gun and chased after Mudkip.

At least I knew some of my pokemon were training. I paused as I realized that they might have actually been playing instead. With a shrug, I decided at least they were getting exercise if nothing else.

With a refreshed pikachu sent back outside, I went to go check on my other pokemon.

Not far from where Sandshrew was attempting to teach Onix to dig I found Heracross and Grimer. The bug pokemon appeared to have taken on the mentor role again. Heracross was helping Grimer to hone it's attacks despite the fact that the two pokemon couldn't use the same attacks. The poison pokemon's sludge attack was already looking improved.

I was about to ask the pokemon if they'd seen Charmeleon or Grovyle when an explosion caught my attention.

Whipping around, I saw a cloud of smoke in the middle of the cleared area. Then I saw Charmeleon burst out of the smoke. Grovyle came over the top of the cloud, it's powerful legs propelling it into the trees. The grass pokemon ricocheted off a tree towards Charmeleon, a leaf blade forming on one arm. The fire pokemon whirled around. It's claws glowed white and extended for it's slash attack.

The two attacks met. I could actually feel the energy exuding from the two pokemon as each was tossed backwards as they met a stalemate. Grovyle landed and pulled it's arms back as it skidded to a halt. A glowing green energy ball had formed and was thrown. Charmeleon arched it's head back and then let loose with a flamethrower. The fire and grass attacks detonated one another.

Dylan had been right: training regiments were overrated.

Since all my other pokemon were doing pretty well by themselves, I returned to Butterfree and Haunter. Pikachu had run off and I couldn't really blame it so I pitted the two pokemon against each other. I'd instruct one pokemon and let the other battle on it's own. Then after a while, I'd switch. This let me build some familiarity with them both as well as see how they thought they battled best.

Dylan came and found me a few hours later, announcing that he was hungry. I hadn't realized it but I was too. After a quick lunch of sandwiches, I returned to my training. I used my same strategy I used with Butterfree and Haunter for the rest of my pokemon. With a brief brake for dinner, I worked with all my pokemon well into the night.

_-Intermission-_

"_I can't believe we're really doing this!" Vanessa squealed as she bounced in her seat._

_David didn't say anything, just gripped the armrest as he felt the acceleration. He had never been a big fan of flying but he wasn't going to pass up free flying. After parting with Tim and Dylan, he and Vanessa had found there way to Atlantic City. Gambling money was also something David wasn't a huge fan of but he put his doubts aside for just a little bit. Putting a few bucks in some slot machines couldn't hurt, he had decided. Besides, they had made a pretty decent amount of money in their battles. It was just a few hours of entertainment and then they could get back to more important things. _

_If it was up to him, there would be no vacation at all. He had training to do and pokemon to catch. Sitting around wasn't going to get him any closer to avenging his loss to Isamu. However, being the good boyfriend, he decided to not press his point and agree to have some fun._

_He was quickly glad he had relented._

_Vanessa had wandered up to the biggest, flashiest slot machine she saw. Without reading any of the neon signs that hung above it, she shoved a twenty dollar bill in and pulled the lever. David had chided her immediately. It was one play at twenty dollars for a shot at some vacation._

_His lecture was cut off by a storm of bells, whistles and lights. Vanessa had won the grand prize. People swarmed around them, offering congratulations. David shook several peoples' hands despite not having a clue what kind of vacation Vanessa had actually won. The sounds of victory had been devoid of anything that might have given it away and he hadn't looked closely at the machine to see what it was advertising._

_Not even twenty-four hours later, they were boarding a transatlantic flight for their ten day vacation in Scotland._

"_I know you're not thrilled about flying," Vanessa attempted to soothe him. "Just think about all the fun we'll have." She could see he wasn't buying it so she continued. "Or better yet, think about all the pokemon you'll have a chance to catch. Pokemon that Tim and Dylan will most likely never see. Well until we get back and crush them with our new pokemon."_

_That brought a smile to his face. "Now that's something to get excited about. Pretty sure I owe Tim a defeat."_

_From takeoff to landing, the flight was nearly seven hours. With no luggage to claim, they were quickly out of their terminal. Using the vouchers they had won they secured a taxi ride to their hotel. Not more than an hour after getting off the plane, they were standing inside a luxurious hotel room. The room as a whole was bigger than some apartments they had seen._

"_Now _this _I could get used to," David said with a grin._

_-End Intermission-_

Two days had passed since we had started our actual training. Improvements were readily visible in almost all aspects. All my pokemon were stronger, moved quicker and responded to my commands faster. Corphish had even learned a new move: Protect. The ability to block any move other than Feint was more than likely going to come in handy at some point in the future.

Other than when we ate and occasionally when we sat on the deck at night, I hadn't seen much of Dylan. There had been an unspoken agreement between us that the property we were staying on had an imaginary line down the center that wasn't to be crossed. Inside and the lake were the only neutral territory. Each of us wanted our own privacy when training and respected the other's desire for it as well.

We were friends but at the same time, I had begun to see Dylan as a bit of a rival. Starting out together at more or less exactly the same time, there really wasn't any way to not become somewhat of rivals. We weren't going to sabotage each other and were still friends first and foremost but I was still very much aware that I had still never beat him in battle and I was working hard to change that fact. Eventually my day would come and it would be glorious. At least until Dylan would inevitably mention that he had still beaten me more than lost to me.

Then early that afternoon, Dylan had come to me and asked for a battle. We each had two new pokemon that we hadn't used in an actual battle yet and reasoned we should give it a shot. I was hesitant when he said we should battle them all at the same time but I eventually gave in. I had to master double battling at some point or another. Pitting my butterfree and haunter against his gligar and dustox in a double battle turned out to be good entertainment.

"Gligar, metal claw!" Dylan shouted.

The purple flying pokemon floated into the sky as it's pincers began to glow a metallic silver. Dustox and Butterfree were already dancing around the sky, exchanging gust attacks. Unengaged, Haunter hovered in front of Gligar and became the obvious target.

"Haunter!" I yelled as Gligar closed in. "Shadow punch!"

A three-fingered hand closed into a fist and punched forward. A shadowy image of the fist lanced out. The shadow punch intercepted the metal claw and the energy of the two attacks detonated one another. Gligar swung it's other pincer at Haunter but this time the ghost pokemon floated out of reach.

"Butterfree, use stun spore on Gligar!"

Butterfree diverted it's path and headed towards the gligar. The bug pokemon wasn't overly nimble but it could close distances quickly. It's big wings weren't made for pinpoint maneuvering. A yellow powder trailed behind my pokemon as it soared over above Dylan's gligar.

"Get out of there Gligar!" Dylan commanded. "Then use poison sting!"

Opening up the webbing that connected it's arms and legs, Gligar caught a draft and swooped away from the paralyzing dust. Making a wide turn, it brought it's tail up and returned fire with a rain of purple needles. The initial onslaught hit Butterfree but with a beat of it's wings, the bug pokemon floated away.

I opened my mouth to issue another order but stopped. A car was coming down the drive towards us. I could see at least one person inside the green sedan. I thought of Professor Oak's message of pokemon criminals. Dylan noticed my distraction and zeroed in on it as well. Our pokemon sensed that our battle was at least on hold, drifted down to the ground to rest.

The car reached the end of the driveway and parked. A bulky man climbed out of the car. He had a mussed brown haircut and a thin beard that ran along his jaw. Birkenstocks adorned his feet at the bottom of his shorts. A white lab coat shielded what were probably fairly muscular arms. The guy kind of reminded me a little bit of my uncle Bill. Something told me they would get along pretty well.

"Is this the right place?" he asked, looking around. "You guys Tim and Dylan?"

Another voice emerged from the car. "Are we here?"

Another person climbed out of the passenger side of the sedan. The first thing I noticed about him was his blonde, almost white hair with a green headband wrapped around it. He had on long black windbreaker pants and a black and red jacket. While the first man was probably the age of my parents, this second guy was probably still in his late twenties.

"Yeah, I'm Tim." I pointed to myself and then at Dylan. "That's Dylan. Who the heck are you?"

The bigger man paused for a moment and then laughed. "Professor Oak must've forgotten to tell you my name. He's getting a little forgetful as he gets older. I'm Professor Birch and this is my son Brendan."

Dylan barked a laugh.

I laughed too. "Yeah, I guess he never did give me your name."

We moved closer and shook hands. This professor seemed to spend a lot more time outside. Up close one could see his weather-beaten face. He also had a crushing handshake. His son was fit but not hulking like his father. We ushered them onto the deck and dragged some chairs over for them. Dylan went inside and reappeared with bottles of water.

I was a little embarrassed about the greeting that we had given them but Professor Birch waved it off. While not quite as famous of Professor Oak, Birch was still a well-known and well respected professor of pokemon. I had heard of him of course but didn't actually know that much about him. Mentally I crossed my fingers that he was some kind of pokemon psychologist and could help Onix immediately.

Birch accepted the water. "Thank you. So Professor Oak said you had some type of pokemon problem. What's up?"

I took a swig of my water before launching into the story of Onix. I left out nothing. To finish the story, I pointed to the little bit of the rock pokemon that could be seen around the corner of the lodge.

"I've never heard of anything like that," Brendan said. "How about you Dad?"

Birch scratched at his beard before answering. "That's a new one on me. I've heard of losing the ability to attack before evolving but not just never having the ability. I believe there was a pretty well documented case actually. This really isn't my specialty though. I focus more on habitats. I help Professor Oak develop a lot of his habitats for his labs." He paused as Haunter floated by. "That's a nice Haunter. Where'd you catch it?"

"Over there. In those mountains." I pointed them out. "Just kind of floated out of nowhere at me. Little scary. It's been like four days I think since I caught it. We've been getting along pretty well."

"Really!" Birch put a lot of emphasis on the word. "Oak and I are working on a cave habitat. Might we borrow your haunter to test it out?"

I thought about it and then shrugged. "Yeah sure but not right now. I need it for my rematch."

The conversation drifted to Dylan and my careers as pokemon trainers. We gave the professor and his son our histories. Brendan revealed that he had been a trainer before going into research with his Dad. He hadn't been that far ahead of us when he retired, collecting five badges. He didn't offer up the reason for why he didn't collect all eight and we didn't ask. It was kind of a deep question to ask someone you'd just met after all.

"You've both got a fairly diverse collection of pokemon," Birch commended us. "You seem to have a type to counter any type thrown at you. I'm not surprised you've had as much success as you have so far. I am a little surprised that you struggled so mightily in New Jersey though."

Dylan jumped in to defend himself. "Well I just caught Gligar. Up until then I didn't have anything resistant to poison. Even now, it still doesn't know any really powerful ground-type moves. We're working on it though."

"You should evolve it," Brendan suggested. "That'd give you access to a much bigger move pool."

"How do I go about that?" Dylan asked. "Doesn't it need an item?"

Brendan nodded. "Yeah. A razor fang."

Dylan paused for a moment. He seemed to be lost in thought. With a slow, deliberate movement he reached into a pocket along the thigh of his cargo shorts. Just as slowly he withdrew an item. It was slender and white. Maybe six inches long and slightly curved to a point. He held it up for all to see.

"One of these?"

Brendan was caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the item. "Um, yes. That'd be a razor fang. Where'd you get one?"

Instead of talking, Dylan pointed to his zigzagoon that was wandering around with it's nose to the ground. It looked up when it noticed all the attention focused on it. It regarded us for a moment, let out a bark and then went back to sniffing the ground.

Birch let out a hearty laugh. "That's what zigzagoon's are known for: finding items. You must not be the first batch of trainers to rent this place."

"Are you going to evolve it?" I looked at Dylan.

He hesitated. "Probably. I don't know."

"If you want, we could probably teach your gligar, or gliscor if you evolve it, a new attack or two," Brendan offered. "Some of my pokemon know a few attacks that gligars can learn that'd be useful."

"Cool. I'd like that whether I evolve it or not."

Tired of just sitting, I invited the professor and his son inside the lodge. I gave them the grand tour and pointed out there were plenty of empty rooms if they wanted to stay the night. The visitors said that they would most likely be taking us up on our offer. While they got their bags, Dylan and I dug around in the kitchen for something to make for dinner while our guests got cleaned up. We came up with enough ingredients to make a solid batch of chicken salad with rolls on the side.

After dinner we moved back to the outside. Dylan introduced Brendan to our pokemon while I took Professor Birch around the lodge to meet Onix. Birch examined the pokemon like a doctor examining a patient. However, he came up with the same result I did.

"Let me think about this for a while," he said to me as we left Onix who was still accompanied by Sandshrew. "I'll have to do a little research. I can access several academic databases with my credentials. There's been a lot of papers and studies published on all sorts of things. Maybe someone else will have come across something similar and documented it. I'm also going to do some looking into about this area. Often the habitat of a pokemon can influence it's abilities. I'm guessing you don't have any time of internet out here, do you?"

I shook my head. "I can't even get a cell phone signal. We've got a landline but I doubt you'd want to try to use dialup internet."

"Figures." Birch made a face. "I'm going to head into town for a bit then. I can probably find some wireless there." He turned to his son. "Brendan! I'm going into town to use the internet. You want to come or will you stay here?"

The younger man watched Elekid and Bulbasaur head in the direction of Onix before replying. "Nah, I'll just stay here."

Birch stopped into the lodge long enough to grab his satchel bag before backing the car out of the driveway. Dylan, Brendan and I remained outside still discussing being a trainer when a loud noise distracted us. At first I couldn't tell what it was. It was constantly changing. Then I heard something very definitive: "Heracross!"

Dylan and I raced around the building's corner and right into a face-off. Sandshrew was standing defiantly in front of Onix like it was defending it's honor. Heracross was retracting it's wings as it had just landed next to the ground pokemon. Facing them were Bulbasaur and Elekid, both had nasty smiles that were slowly fading as Heracross advanced towards them.

"Hera! Heracross!" the bug pokemon demanded.

"Saur!" Bulbasaur shot back and Elekid rasped something as well.

"What's going on?" Dylan muttered. I had no answer for him.

"Bulbasaur!" shouted the grass pokemon and suddenly things came into focus.

A single vine snaked out and gave Onix a small slap. Sandshrew squawked angrily and moved forward. Elekid and Bulbasaur had been making fun of Onix and Sandshrew hadn't taken kindly to it. The ground pokemon was attempting to defend it's rocky friend. Heracross had been nearby and came in to even the odds.

"You've got a showdown on your hands," Brendan said quietly. "If they start going at it, you're going to have to jump in and battle. Otherwise it could get out of hand."

"We can't just get them back in their poke balls?" Dylan asked.

Brendan shook his head. "Delaying things might only make it worse. It's going to boil over at some point. It might as well be now under controlled circumstances. If you two are calling the battle, you can at least keep things contained. Otherwise it might be Bulbasaur and Elekid fending off Sandshrew and Heracross while they attack Onix. It would not be a good situation."

Bulbasaur's vine snapped back out. This time Heracross reached up and snagged the grassy appendage out of the air. The air was thick with tension. It was clear that Brendan was right. There was no way we could avoid it but we could guide it a little if nothing else.

"Sandshrew, use dig!" I shouted as I jogged towards them. "Heracross, night slash!"

Sandshrew disappeared beneath the earth. Heracross tightened it's grip on the vine and then lunged forward. The bug pokemon swung a glowing purple claw up like a pendulum, catching Bulbasaur on the chin. Sandshrew burst out of the ground and drove a fist into the stomach of Elekid.

Dylan had arrived to a comfortable spot behind his pokemon now. "Elekid, thundershock! Bulbasaur, razor leaf! Aim them both at Heracross!"

I called for Heracross to dodge. It was able to zip out of the way of the razor leaves but thundershock dropped it to a knee. Bulbasaur righted it's aim to bombard the briefly immobilized bug pokemon.

"Sandshrew, use fury swipes on Elekid!"

The ground pokemon launched itself at the electric pokemon, claws bared. Elekid had to cease it's thundershock to try and fend off Sandshrew, releasing Heracross. A single vine slapped across Sandshrew's stomach and tossed the pokemon aside. Ice swirled around the fist of Elekid. I started to call a warning to Sandshrew when the electric pokemon spun on one foot and drove the ice punch into Heracross.

Dylan's strategy was beginning to become clear to me: he was going after my stronger pokemon. Heracross was much stronger than Sandshrew. If he could knock out the bug pokemon, Sandshrew would become easy pickings despite having a type advantage over Elekid.

I felt a feeling of annoyance towards Dylan wash over me. His pokemon were picking on a defenseless onix and he was trying to help them win the battle to keep on doing what they were doing. If anything, he should be attempting to throw the battle just to teach his pokemon a lesson. In the back of my mind I knew that he would never purposely lose just like I never would either.

"Jump on Heracross' back!" Dylan ordered. "Then use thundershock!"

Elekid whirled it's arms around to build up it's electric power as it sidestepped around my pokemon. It stopped it's spinning and hopped up onto Heracross' carapace, wedging it's fingers into the edges. Elekid then let loose it's thundershock, encasing Heracross in lighting.

"Knock it away!" I waved a hand around frantically. "Then use night slash! Sandshrew, use dig!"

Heracross' wings burst open. Elekid's hand grips suddenly disappeared and the smaller pokemon was tossed into the air. The dark purple glow returned to the arm of Heracross. With a vicious backhand, Elekid was knocked aside. The electric pokemon was knocked well clear of the battling area.

My pokemon's reprieve was quickly ended as two green vines slammed into it, throwing it back into Onix. The vines swung up and then down for another strike. Sandshrew intervened instead, exploding out of the ground and driving Bulbasaur back. Heracross dropped down to a knee to catch it's breath as Elekid arrived back to the battlefield. Sandshrew ran back to Heracross to help it regroup.

"Thundershock and razor leaf! Both at Heracross!"

"Get out of there Heracross!" I screamed. "Aerial ace! Sandshrew, take the thundershock!"

Like a blue bullet, Heracross shot into the air. The sharpened leaves just barely grazing it's feet. Sandshrew braced itself as the blast of lightning struck it in the chest. It crackled around the ground pokemon's body and then shattered into a shower of sparks. With neither of my pokemon taking damage, I seized the opportunity to try and turn the momentum in my favor.

"Sand-attack Sandshrew! Target Bulbasaur Heracross!"

Sandshrew began pawing frantically at the ground. A cloud of thick dust quickly formed and floated across our field. Elekid and Bulbasaur were almost completely concealed by the dusty cloud. Keeping close to the ground, Sandshrew disappeared all together. Heracross came rocketing down with white energy streaming from it's horn. The bug pokemon dipped into the cloud. When it emerged, it had successfully targeted Bulbasaur and the grass pokemon had been lifted up by the mighty horn. Dylan's pokemon managed to slip off and crashed down to the ground.

"Poison sting!"

A volley of purple needles cut through the dust. Elekid never saw them coming and was knocked off it's feet. Between the two attacks, the sand-attack had almost completely dissipated.

Dylan pointed up at the sky. "Grab Heracross and reel it in!"

Bulbasaur had righted itself and two vines shot out of it's bulb. Heracross tried to twist in the air to keep it's feet away from the vines but that was never Bulbasaur's target. Instead the two vines looped around the bug pokemon's arms. Now Heracross couldn't use it's arms to attempt to free it. The vines began to retract.

"Fight it Heracross!"

Heracross struggled but the vines started pulling harder and harder. The speed of my pokemon's decent began to increase.

"Now!" Dylan shouted. "Ice punch!"

As Heracross was plummeting to the ground, Elekid charged Bulbasaur's back. With a little hop, it jumped onto the bulb and sprung into the air. The vines let go of Heracross just as Elekid thrust it's icy fist forward. The force of the impact was incredibly. Heracross spiraled wildly in the air before crashing to the ground.

We didn't have a ref and I didn't need one.

Calmly, I walked out onto the battlefield. Heracross was facedown in the tall grass. I rolled the pokemon over and smiled at it. The bug pokemon tried to say something but I just shook my head. Slipping my hands beneath it's arms I gently lifted it off the ground. I could sense Sandshrew's eyes on me as I dragged Heracross out of the battling area.

Lacking Heracross' poke ball, I leaned the pokemon against Onix and crouched down next to it. "You alright?"

"Cross. Heracross."

"Don't worry. We'll take it from here."

From over my shoulder there was an eruption of light. I covered my eyes as I swung back around, a series of curses queue-ing up to use against Dylan for attacking while my back was turned. The first curse almost made it out but died on my lips as the light dissipated.

Sandshrew was gone. Not gone as in blown away by an attack. Gone as in no more. In it's place stood something different. Rows of brown quills covered it's back like a spikey quilt. There were two massive claws on each of it's hands. Sandshrew had become Sandslash. It had forced it's own evolution to better defend Onix. I had never been more proud of the young ground pokemon.

I was the first to recover from the surprise. "Sandslash, dig!"

The newly evolved pokemon disappeared beneath the ground. Dylan was shaken back into the moment and began calling our preparation orders. It didn't matter as Sandslash shot like a missile out of the ground, raking it's outstretched claws across Elekid.

"Rollout!"

While in the air, Sandslash curled into a spiky ball and began rolling. The motion created enough friction in the air that the pokemon suddenly shot downward. Sandslash slammed into Bulbasaur and the two pokemon were launched apart. Coming out of it's spin, my pokemon landed on it's feet.

I was ready to call out another command when I noticed that Dylan was crouched over Elekid. In the heat of battle, I hadn't even noticed that Sandslash's last dig attack had knocked out the electric pokemon.

While Dylan was pulling Elekid from the field, I took stock of the battle situation. As far as type differences, Sandslash stood at a disadvantage. Bulbasaur's secondary type of poison did make my pokemon's ground attacks break even on effectiveness, Sandslash was weak to grass attacks. However, I felt that Sandslash's abrupt evolution tipped the scales in my favor. Dylan's pokemon was without a doubt the more seasoned battler but it had not received the strength and power enhancement that came with evolution. Speed and power were more than likely enough to trump type disadvantage.

"Bulbasaur, razor leaf!"

I slashed my hand through the air. "Underground!"

Sandslash burrowed into the soil and the spinning leaves passed harmlessly overhead. Dylan swore. Bulbasaur began dancing in circles, trying to be ready for when my pokemon would strike from below.

"Rollout!"

A moving mound of dirt began leaving a trail towards Bulbasaur. A spinning ball of yellow and brown became visible as Sandslash emerged from the ground. Bulbasaur turned just in time. Instead of taking the attack full on, it was only clipped and avoided the brunt of the damage.

"Saur!" the grass pokemon yelled angrily. It stamped it's front foot. "Bulbasaur!"

I sneered at the pokemon. "Not so much fun being the little guy is it?"

It's response was to become engulfed in white light.

"Oh, come on!" I shouted.

Dylan just grinned.

It's body more or less stayed the same besides increasing in size. The real difference was the bulb on it's back. It had gone from a small green bulb to a larger yellow flower bud. Three fern-like leaves sprouted from it's base.

"Now the field is a little more even," Dylan said, still sporting his grin. "Ivysaur, vine whip!"

I was ready. "Dodge it!"

Sandslash dove to it's right and rolled up to it's feet as the two dark green vines lashed out. The vines smashed into the ground, sending clumps of soil into the air. With a jerk of it's shoulders, Ivysaur sent the two vines swinging after Sandslash. The ground pokemon tried to roll out of the way again but was struck hard from behind. It did however manage to dig it's way underground before the vines could come back for another swipe.

Sandslash burst out of the ground to attack but two more dark green vines shot out of the base of Ivysaur's flower bud. I called for Sandslash to dodge but now Ivysaur had the advantage. Each vine wrapped around one of Sandslash's long claws. With a little bit of effort, the grass pokemon heaved the struggling sandslash up off the ground. My pokemon strained with all it's might but wasn't able to break free.

"Razor leaf!" Dylan yelled, pointed at the suspended pokemon.

A flurry of spinning leaves erupted from Ivysaur's back. Sandslash let out a cry in it's nasally voice. The impact of the leaves wrenched Sandslash free of the vines as the sharpened leaves shattered against it's body. My pokemon thudded heavily on the ground, skipping once before being still.

I walked over and crouched down next to it. "Good work there buddy. We'll get them next time."

"Saur! Ivy saur!"

My eyes snapped over to where Dylan's pokemon was. He was running over to it as the two vines lanced out. I hissed a breath as I realized that it was claiming it's prize: it was attacking Onix.

"Croooooooa!"

A flash of purple and black shot over Onix's bulk. Croagunk spun in the air, bringing two poison jabs around to bare. It struck with each one, deflecting a vine away from Onix. The poison pokemon landed and then raced forward. It screeched to a halt with the glowing tip of it's fingers mere inches from Ivysaur's face.

"Croa croagunk!"

"Saur!"

Even though I couldn't tell what they were saying, it was clear that they were arguing.

"Croa gunk. Gunk croagunk!"

"Saur ivysaur ivy saur!"

"CROAGUNK!"

I wasn't sure what Croagunk had just screamed but it was clearly the end of the argument. Ivysaur lowered it's green head and slunk away. Croagunk stared after it until it was sure that it was gone then it came over to me. It pat Sandslash on the head and said something that sounded encouraging. With that, it walked away like nothing had ever happened.

"That was… that was interesting," Brendan muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Sorry about that," Dylan said to me as he offered me a hand up. "That got out of hand there at the end."

"You think?" I shot back. "You just beat up two pokemon that were trying to defend another!"

He shrugged. "I couldn't just throw the battle."

"Like hell you couldn't!"

Brendan interjected himself. "He could've but in the long run, it would've been damaging to his relationship with his pokemon. They might've lost faith in him and stopped obeying him." I tried to protest but he cut me off. "This will most likely be an isolated incident. Croagunk seems to have ensured that."

I had to begrudgingly agree. All of our pokemon did seem to have a certain respect for Croagunk. It had proved that it wasn't a pokemon to be messed with and had clearly put Ivysaur in it's place. We could only hope that Brendan's assessment of the situation was right.

With the battle over and Onix not appearing any worse for wear, I left my pokemon there for a few minutes while I retrieved their poke balls. I dashed upstairs and dug a TM out of my backpack before I went back to where my fallen pokemon were. I snapped the small disc with "focus blast" etched on it into Sandslash's poke ball before I recalled the pokemon to it.

Silently, I promised my pokemon that next time would be different.

_-Intermission-_

_Vanessa pushed her way through the underbrush, trying not to trip over any upraised roots. It was easier said than done._

_She and David were deep in a thick Scotland forest along the coastline of Loch Ness. A thin, early morning fog had coated the area making any traveling at all a bit tricky. Despite the hazardous conditions, Vanessa willed herself to keep moving._

_They had been in Scotland for a few days now and she felt like she hadn't accomplished much at all. After a day of sightseeing, they had gotten down to pokemon business. Vanessa's metapod had evolved into a butterfree which she was pleased about but didn't seem like enough. She had also captured a nincade which she had immediately deemed "icky" and wasn't sure if she'd ever actually use it in battle._

_David, on the other hand, was quite happy with what he had accomplished. In a minimal amount of training, Slappy had evolved from a nearly useless magikarp to a mighty gyarados. On top of that, he had also captured a turtwig which he had named Lenny. When questioned on the name, he had shrugged and simply said that he liked the name._

_When Vanessa had split off from him in the woods, David had been training with his new grass pokemon. Along the coastline she had found a group of small water pokemon known as poliwag. Using her mareep, she easily defeated and captured one of them. It did make her feel a little better but not much._

_Vanessa just didn't feel completely confident in her team yet. She had a couple powerful pokemon in her Charmeleon and her ratatta that she was still refusing to evolve. Her cubone was slowly becoming a powerhouse as well. Despite this, she had a lacking feeling whenever she viewed her team as a whole. She liked her taillow and her butterfree but didn't envision them becoming mainstays in her primary six. The poliwag she had just caught had potential and evolved into a strong pokemon but she wasn't sure about it just yet either. Including her mareep, she had four of her six primary spots filled but it was the last two that really worried her at the moment._

_Lost in thought, she found herself tracing the coastline of Loch Ness and beginning to wonder just how far away from David she had wandered. Lost in his training, David probably hadn't noticed her absence yet. She should probably turn back soon anyways. Just when she was about to get turned around, a noise trickled past her ears._

_Not just a noise. Singing._

_She shook her head to try and clear it, thinking she was hearing things. The melody persisted. Now moving at a much greater pace, she followed the song for what seemed like almost a mile. Climbing a small hill she came across a small inlet. The singing was now much louder. Her eyes traced along the water, searching out the source. She found it sitting on the beach._

_Vanessa's jaw dropped and she was frozen in place for a moment. Movement slowly came back to her and she became creeping down the hill. At first she tried to stay hidden. Then she decided that this particular pokemon needed to be handled differently than others. Still moving slowly, she strode down in plain sight. The pokemon stopped singing and looked up at her._

"_Hey there," she said to it. "I'm not going to hurt you."_

_The pokemon looked up at Vanessa with big, sad brown eyes and clearly believed her. At that moment she knew that either she was going to have to help this pokemon if it had a problem or make friends with it to see if it would join her. Battling it was no longer an option._

_-End Intermission-_


	29. Chapter 29

Professor Birch and Brendan ended up staying a lot longer than I had originally assumed they would. I had expected them to stay at the most two days but four days later, they were still here. We had to explain to them about our limited food supply so Birch would take us into town to get more food. Embarrassed that it didn't occur to him that we might have limited food, the professor insisted in paying for everything. I stayed back at the lodge while Dylan went with him, mostly so he could withdraw some money so we could pay for our stay at the lodge.

I had still not made any progress with Onix. Pikachu had dedicated almost two whole days to trying to teach the rock pokemon to use iron tail but it proved futile. Onix was even moving around, trying to replicate Pikachu's actions which was at least a step further than just watching Sandslash use dig.

Dylan had more luck with his pokemon. After using his razor fang to evolve his gligar into a gliscor, Brendan took the pokemon aside for a few hours. With the help of his swampert, he taught Gliscor to use a powerful ground-type attack called earth power. Now that he had a strong ground-type pokemon with a strong ground-type move at his disposal, Dylan confided in me that he was ready to re-challenge the poison gym.

The morning of the fourth day of Birch and his son staying with us, we were enjoying breakfast out of the deck. Brendan and the professor were planning to leave in the early afternoon so we were enjoying a final conversation.

Brendan had been telling us how he had become a researcher. "So yeah, I guess I was always a researcher and scientist at heart just like my dad. I thought I was a trainer but inside… inside I was a researcher and didn't even know it yet."

Birch, who had been leaning back in his chair, suddenly leaned forward. His chair landed with a loud thump on the wooden deck. "Say that again."

I shot Dylan a sideways look. Professor Birch suddenly had a very intense look in his eyes. Something that Brendan had said had set him off. The level of intensity made me think that somehow the professor had just been insulted in some way.

Brendan, clearly thinking the same thing, fumbled over his words as he repeated his last few sentences. As he said "just like my dad." Birch shot out of his chair.

"I've got it!" he bellowed. "Come with me!"

Moving quickly for a man of his size, he cleared the steps in one bound. We struggled out of our chairs and followed the elder man around the corner of the lodge. He stopped suddenly and we almost ran into him. Onix towered over us, curled into a large pile of rocks. It raised up it's huge head and blinked it's massive eyes at us.

"Gliscor!" Birch called to the pokemon wandering past. "Come here!"

The purple pokemon turned towards us. It's long, dangerous looking stinger-tail swinging happily behind it's wide leathery wings. It snapped it's big claws happily and looked up at us with big yellow eyes.

"Draw in the dirt whatever Onix answers," Birch told the pokemon before turning to Onix. "Onix, what kind of pokemon were your parents?"

Onix grumbled something and Gliscor went to work. When it was finished, there was a crude drawing etched into the soil. At first glance it looked like on onix. When I blinked and looked closer, I could see a few differences. The head didn't have the big horn that an onix had and the tail came to a big point. Two prongs almost like ribs jutted out on each side of it's big body.

"What is it?" I asked.

Brendan drew in a breath like he'd just understood something. "Onix, your parents are steelix!"

The rock pokemon suddenly reared back and roared. It seemed that Brendan was right.

"I don't get it," I said, scratching my cheek. "What does that mean? I didn't even know that an onix could evolve."

Birch smiled and stroked his beard once. "Onix here was born to steelix parents. A parent pokemon passes attacks and other such things on to it's offspring. Normally that's not a problem. Unless the parents are an evolution that can use attacks that the pre-evolutions can't use. Onix knows plenty of attacks, it's just trying to use them like a steelix would!"

"Why doesn't it just evolve then?" Dylan asked. "I've seen pokemon force their own evolution before.

Professor Birch gave us a brief explanation that an onix required a specific item to evolve. Things began to fall into place for me. I raised a hand as I was about to speak but then another thought struck me. My hand fell back across my mouth as I realized something.

"I'll be back."

I took off at a flat run back around the lodge. Slipping as I took the corner wide, I scrambled up the steps. I charged through the door and then up the stairs to the room that I had been inhabiting. Heaving my backpack off the floor and onto my bed, I began tearing pockets open. I found what I was looking for and made for the door. I lurched backward and grabbed an empty poke ball before retracing my steps back to the group.

Dylan eyed me. "What was that about?"

"You'll see."

Waving to get Onix's attention, I stepped forward. When the giant rock snake had leaned in to look at me I held up the item I had retrieved between my thumb and forefinger. Onix roared as it pulled back.

"You know what this is," I said as I pulled the metal coat into my palm. "It was given to me so I'm going to give it to you. I'll use it to evolve you if you want. I'll even take you back to where we first met so you can show those other onix what you've become. After that, I'll set you free."

Onix lowered it's head down until it was directly in front of me and grumbled something.

"I do have to catch you first," I told it, assuming that's what it was asking and held up the poke ball. "I'm ready whenever you are."

Onix reared back and roared. It fixed me with a look of steely determination and bobbed it's head, indicating that it was ready as well.

"How does this work anyway?" I whispered to Birch. "Do I put the metal coat into the ball before I catch it? Or do I give it to Onix and then catch it?"

Birch smiled. "Catch Onix first. Then release it and place the metal coat inside the poke ball. Once you summon it back into the ball, the effect will take place the next time you release it."

I nodded and threw the poke ball. The red and white ball bounced off of Onix and converted the pokemon to red energy, drawing it inside. The ball move once as I closed in and picked it up. Releasing Onix, I closed the metal coat inside the ball. Pointing the laser back at the rock snake, it disappeared again.

"Well, you guys ready to go?" I asked, tucking the ball inside my pocket.

Brendan frowned. "Go where?"

"Didn't you hear me? I'm going to take it back to where we first met it. Where it was being attacked by those other onix. I promised it I'd get it fixed up and take it back. I'm a man of my word."

"Technically I don't think you promised that," Dylan muttered under his breath. "But hey, let's go."

It took us a while to find our way back up the mountain. I took the blame for most of it, seeing as how I made us ascend the wrong mountain first. Luckily Dylan pointed out that he didn't see the area he had caught his gligar at and we realized we were on the wrong land mass. We tried another and at first, I thought we had screwed up again. Then there was a familiar rumble beneath our feet.

"We're close," I said.

We cleared a ridge that had a giant indent in it that I realized had been made by Onix when we looked over the edge to see a collection of five onix. At first I wasn't sure that this was the same group but Birch observed that this area wasn't big enough to have more than two or three groups of onix roaming about.

Any doubt left in our minds was erased when one of them saw us and let out a deafening roar. The rest of the group swiveled to look at us. Two swung their mighty tails into the ground and sent a spray of rocks up at us.

"Get down!" Birch shouted, shoving us aside. "They're using rock throw!"

As I was hitting the dirt, I caught a glimpse of two of the onix charging in our direction. "They're coming after us!"

"Shit!" Dylan swore over the noise of falling rocks. "I didn't bring any pokemon!"

My heart jumped into my mouth. In our haste to get Onix back to this location, neither of us had stopped to gather up any pokemon. A thought formed in my mind but before I could register it, the sun was blotted out.

Onix look much bigger when they're standing over you and mean you harm.

"Throw it!" Brendan yelled at me.

"Throw what?" I was confused.

"What do you think?" he screamed. "Onix's poke ball!"

In the commotion, I had completely forgotten about it. I dug into my pocket and pulled it out, making it normal sized as I did. As I threw the ball it exploded open the second it cleared my fingertips.

Flowing white energy streaking into the sky. The two advancing onix stopped in their tracks. The energy curved in the air and slammed down into the earth, taking on a solid form. It reminded me a lot of an onix in it's body except for the two spikes on either side and the pointed tail. The head was the real big difference besides the obvious smooth, shiny metal that had replaced rock. The horn was gone and replaced by two ridges that sat above deep set eyes. A thick lower jaw with two ridges at either edge held a mouth of big, blunt teeth.

Steelix let out a mighty roar as it introduced itself.

The eyes of the two onix got huge as they connected the dots and realized who this steelix actually was. Before they could move, Steelix opened it's mouth like it was going to bite and lunged forward. Two icy blue jets of lightning lanced out and knocked one of the onix off the ledge. Steelix's tail glowed white and it swung it up like an uppercut, connecting with the other onix's head. It flew into the air and crashed down next to it's friend.

Steelix let out another roar. This one carried the undertone of self-appreciation and just a hint of a threat. The five onix considered their options. Slowly, they began to back away.

Steelix continued to roar at them as they retreated. It fidgeted around like it wanted to chase after them. It took it almost a minute to realize that I was waving at it, trying to get the attention of the steel pokemon.

"Bout time," I muttered as it lowered it's head down to my level. I placed a hand on it's jaw and smiled. "Well, I guess this is it."

It drew back in surprise.

"I told you I'd make you right and I did. I had to capture you to evolve you but I'm a man of my word: you are free to go. If I'm ever back in the area, I'll try to find you to say hi."

Steelix was silent as I gave it a wave. As I was just starting to reflect on how I was going to miss the pokemon, the ground began to shake. All of us lost our footing. Dylan and I bounced off each other as we tried to get our balance. There was a flash of silver and I could no longer see our path. Steelix was curled around us, it's head towering over me. When we had regained our balance, the pokemon slowly uncurled itself. It lowered it's head down until it was right at my level.

"Um, hi."

Steelix moved closer. It's protruding jaw was now only a foot away from me. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Professor Birch motioning for me to put my hand out. I cautiously extended my hand out. The big steel head inched forward until my hand rested in between the ridges that went over it's eyes. I'm not sure why, but I was surprised by the coolness of the pokemon's skin. The big white eyes with the red irises slowly closed. I looked back at my colleagues in hopes that one of them understood what was going on.

Birch spoke first. "I think Steelix is trying to say that it wants to come with you." Steelix grumbled as if to agree. "My guess is that it feels indebted to you and plans to pay it's debt."

I patted Steelix's head. "Hey, that's great but you're free! I'd love to have you join my team but don't you want to be free now that you're really who you are?"

The eyes snapped open. The head pulled back and the mouth dropped open in a soft roar. I took a step back and winced. "Ok, ok!"

"I don't think Steelix is giving you a choice in the matter," Birch chuckled.

"Welcome to the team," I said as I pointed Steelix's poke ball at it and drew it back inside.

After we got back to the lodge, Birch and Brendan announced their intentions to head out that day. We ate some lunch and then Dylan and I watched them load their belongings into their car. Birch gave me his card with his email and phone number and told me we could call him any time for anything. He also said he was going to be relaying the story of Steelix to one of his fellow professors, Professor Rowan, who specialized in evolution. I gave Birch my contact information and told him that he was more than welcome to pass it along to Rowan.

Once all the goodbyes were handled, Professor Birch and his son climbed into the car. A cloud of dust rose up as the car rumbled down the dirt road. Dylan and I stood at the bottom of the porch steps until we could neither hear nor see the car. Together we strode forward and partway down the driveway where we stopped.

"Great, now I just have you to talk to," I joked.

Dylan responded by giving me a one-armed shove.

"I guess I'll cope with it," I continued when I had regained my balance. "We do only have a couple days left."

Dylan looked over at me. "You know… there is one thing we still have to take care of while we're here."

I turned to look at him. From up above him, Dustox and Gliscor drifted down to float next to his shoulders. I laughed. There was a fluttering of wings and then a temperature drop; Butterfree and Haunter had arrived.

"Here we go."

I stood in front of the mirror in my bedroom at the lodge, examining my reflection. It was the last day at the lodge and therefore our last day with a regular roof over our heads. The patchy beard that had covered my face was now gone and my face felt cool and smooth. There was a bit of concern about the rest of me though. I knew we hadn't been eating all that well but it was very evident now with my shirt off. When we had initially set out on our journey, I hadn't been fat but I did have a little pudge to me. Now I could count my ribs. Three square meals a day for two weeks had helped me put some weight back on though.

Pulling my shirt back on, I concentrated on getting all my things together. With my uncle Bill due here in less than two hours I still had a fair amount to do. I had already collected all my pokemon back into their balls. Loading Charmeleon, Grovyle, Heracross, Pikachu, Mudkip and Steelix into my belt holster, I swept the rest of them into a pocket in the side of my backpack, including the nincada that I had caught yesterday. Checking the drawers and bathroom once more, I forced all my clothes and toiletries into the central pouch. I swung the back over one shoulder and headed downstairs.

Dylan was already in the kitchen. He was digging through cupboards and the fridge in an attempt to find any food that we might be able to take with us. When he heard me coming, he made a sad face and pointed at the open refrigerator door. There was a pile of meats including a pound of hamburger and some chicken breasts that were going to go to waste.

I sighed and hoped there would be someone staying here shortly after us. "Anything we can take?"

"Bread, peanut butter, honey, some crackers," Dylan ticked them off his fingers. "I found some bottled water that I think we can take. Oh yeah, there's some jerky here too."

I frowned. "So nothing exciting."

Dylan shrugged. "A couple cans of Chef Boyardee and a thing of soup if you can call that exciting."

"Bring 'em," I said with a wave of my hand. "It's something different. We can eat them cold if it's too hard to heat them up."

After another ten minutes of rooting around, Dylan concluded that we had found everything that we could take. We cleaned up everything else and then jammed what we were taking with us into our backpacks. Taking one last look around the inside, we headed outside to wait.

I swung my backpack down next to the Adirondack chair I had spent a pretty good amount of time in and dropped into the chair. "You ready to go back?"

Dylan snorted as he flopped down into his chair. "Yes and no. It was nice being up here but I want to go back on the road. This is a nice place to stay for a while though."

"Agreed. I'm thinking that I'll definitely come back here eventually. Maybe make it my secret training grounds."

Dylan snorted again. "You have to be really good to warrant a secret training grounds. Otherwise it's just a training grounds."

"I said eventually." I paused for a moment. "You ready to face Isamu again?"

He didn't answer right away. "I think so. Gliscor will be a huge help. Duxtox has some experience now and will be a lot more useful. With the training we've done, I think I'm ready. Obviously not as ready as you."

I grinned. The addition of Steelix to my team was mammoth. The steel pokemon was completely immune to poison attacks and thanks to Sandslash, had actually learned dig before either of them had evolved. Sandslash was now evolved and significantly stronger than during it's previous meeting with Isamu's poison pokemon. With Butterfree knowing psychic attacks and Haunter not affected by poison spikes according to Birch, I was well armed for my rematch.

Uncle Bill arrived after a short wait. We piled into his car after we exchanged hugs and settled in for the long drive. The time went quickly as we told the story of our time at the lodge. Although not being terribly knowledgeable about pokemon, Bill was still nonetheless impressed by what we had accomplished in our time.

Once we got closer to civilization I powered up my cell phone. It instantly began chirping with voicemail notifications. I had one message from David and one from Vanessa. Each of them told me the same thing: they were at the pokemon center already and had been for a day already. If we didn't get there soon or at least call, they would assume we weren't coming. I fired off a quick text to let them know we would be arriving at the bus station in a couple of hours.

At the bus station, we said our final goodbyes to Bill. I handed him a pile of money to pay for our stay and gave him some extra for gas. He refused the gas money like I knew he would. So when he wasn't looking, I slipped it into the pocket of his jacket.

The bus schedule worked just like a movie this time. Our bus was set to leave in a matter of minutes and had just a few seats left. Dylan commented that all we needed was a sunset to drive into to complete the scene. I laughed and had to agree as the bus rumbled out of the station. The ride was long and uneventful and we used the time to catch a nap.

At almost six in the evening our bus rolled to it's final stop. I trudged down the steps and made an effort to loosen up my back. When I was done, I saw that David and Vanessa were waiting for us. I smiled and moved forward to shake David's hand. The time off seemed to have done him good. Energy pulsed in his piercing blue eyes and he looked like he had gained a few pounds after being practically malnourished like myself. Vanessa appeared more or less unchanged with the exception of a haircut.

"You're looking well," David said with a smile as he released my hand. He hesitated just barely and then extended his hand to Dylan. Dylan also had just a minute moment of hesitation before shaking the offered hand.

"Thanks," I replied. "You guys look like your batteries are recharged."

"A week in Scotland will do that for you."

I looked at Vanessa. "What?"

"I won a trip to Scotland."

Turning to look at David and got a nod of confirmation. "She did. It was beautiful over there. Relaxed for a few days and then did a good amount of training."

"That makes our trip seem kind of lame," Dylan mused. "Upstate New York is nice but it probably can't hold a candle to Scotland."

David and Vanessa shared a knowing look.

"How's the wild pokemon situation over there?" I asked. "I know they have some pokemon over there that we don't have here."

David shrugged. "I only caught one. Got a few of mine to evolve though."

Vanessa excitedly cut in. "I caught four!"

"Which ones?"

This time it was David interrupted Vanessa. "You'll have to wait and see. We can battle after we take out this gym and you can see for yourself."

The mention of the gym quieted the conversation. The seriousness of what we had ahead of us overwhelmed the pleasant catching up. With a nod of his head, we followed David out of the station. The walk back to the pokemon center was pleasant enough. Despite nearing the end of summer, the evening air still had enough warmth to not require a jacket.

"Take of the gym tonight or wait until tomorrow?" David finally broke the silence.

I was a little surprised by the remark. David had always been full steam ahead before. Usually it was me asking if we wanted to wait before challenging the gym. I wondered if he had done more than catch a pokemon in Scotland. It wasn't maturity, he had always been mature. He just seemed to display more patience now.

To reply, I gave a shrug. "I'm a little tired from that bus ride but I could go now. Now sure how long the gym is open for though. It is almost seven. Don't they usually close at eight or nine?"

After a short discussion, it was decided that we would wait until the next morning to avenge ourselves against Isamu and his poisonous ways. With time to kill until we would feel like sleeping, we found a dinner and sat down for dinner. We stayed there for several hours, sharing more about our vacations and reminiscing about the months past. Dylan and I made certain not to divulge the pokemon we had acquired during our time apart. If they weren't going to tell, neither were we.

Dylan and I were the last ones awake the next morning. At first I felt guilty but then I realized that it was still only nine in the morning. After a quick shower and change of clothes, we were on our way. The gym wasn't far and we were there in no time at all.

Before going inside, I had a quick conversation with Charmeleon.

"If Isamu starts off with Muk, I'm going with you," I told the pokemon. "We're going to use a little subterfuge to try and get the upper hand. If and only if I start with you, I want you to scale back your flamethrower so it's about as strong as it was last time we were here. Can you do that?"

Charmeleon nodded.

"Good. When I call for it, I want you to ramp it up to the max. Give it everything you've got for that one attack. Just that one though. I don't want you blowing all your strength right then. Any questions.

After getting a shake of Charmeleon's head, I returned the pokemon to it's poke ball and my friends and I walked inside.

Isamu was waiting for challengers in the lobby area as we threw open the doors. At first he didn't recognize us. After a few moments though he realized who we were.

"I was starting to get worried," he said in his slightly accented English. "It has been a long time since I had seen you. I was beginning to think you might not return."

"Well after today, you won't have to see us again." Dylan crossed his arms over his chest. "After we beat you, we'll be out of your way for good."

"Oh ho! Well said! Much more confidence than last time!" Isamu paused and then pointed at me. "You, I believe… yes! The previous time you were the last to battle. This time you shall be the first to face my poisons!"

I offered a cool smile. "Let's go."

Isamu led me down the long hallway and into the battling area. I nodded at the referee that was already in place as Isaum made his way around the field to his trainer's box. Casting an eye about the field, it was still the same plain floor that I remembered from last time. It was all the same as last time but I was determined that it would end differently.

"We shall battle six on six!" Isamu's proclamation surprised me a little. I grabbed my backpack off the floor and swapped a few of my pokemon while he continued with the basic rules. "As Gym Leader, I shall go first. Muk, begin!"

It took every ounce of my willpower to keep a grin from forming on my face. "Charmeleon, start us off!"

I licked my lips in anticipation. Everything I had worked on over the last two weeks was about to be put to the test. It was about time.

"Muk, sludge bomb!"

My eyes flared ever so slightly as I saw the best shot I was going to get at my trick I had planned. "Charmeleon, flamethrower!"

The two pokemon reared back before launching their attacks. The barrage of little balls of sludge slammed into the blast of fire in the center of the battle field. Like we had planned, Charmeleon kept the strength of it's flamethrower down. The sludge bombs slowly began pushing the flames back.

"I'm disappointed!" Isamu shook his head. "I expected more improvement after this long of a delay. I-"

"Now!" I shouted, cutting him off.

"Charrr-MELEON!" Fire suddenly exploded out of Charmeleon's mouth. The pillar of fire nearly tripled in size and intensity. Caught off guard, Muk didn't have a chance to respond with equal force and the sludge bombs were quickly overtaken. The raging inferno slammed into Muk and drove it into the wall behind Isamu.

Isamu was at a loss. "What… I… Muk, sludge!"

"Charge and dragon rage!"

Taking off at a run, Charmeleon ducked underneath the stream of disgusting blackness that Muk was emitting. The yellow ball of energy crackled between it's teeth as it got close. The explosion of the dragon rage enveloped the poison pokemon.

"Fire fang!"

Charmeleon dove into the dissipating explosion with flames trailing from it's mouth. There was an explosion and then another. I called for another flamethrower. Standing above the downed muk, Charmeleon used the force of it's own fire attack to push itself away from it's opponent.

"Muk is unable to battle!" the referee called. "Charmeleon is the winner!"

Charmeleon spat fire into the air to celebrate.

Isamu called his muk back to it's poke ball and faced me. "It would seem that I judged you too quickly. However, the advancement of one pokemon does not win the battle. This battle has barely started."

I said nothing. My ploy with Charmeleon had unbalanced Isamu, I was sure of it. If I really wanted to take advantage of it I would need to keep pressing the attack. Letting him go on the offensive could rapidly change the course of the battle.

"It's time to face the pokemon that undid you last time. Drapion!"

As the lanky purple pokemon appeared I was already recalling Charmeleon. I had thought long and hard about this pokemon. Dylan and I had consulted each other late into the night as it had been his undoing as well. I had a game plan this time.

"Sandslash, let's go!"

Isamu paused as he remembered the sandshrew I had with me last time. "Perhaps your charmeleon was not your only area of improvement."

Instead of responding to his statement, I said, "Sandslash, dig!"

"Pin missile!" Isamu yelled but it was too late. By the time Drapion had released it's glowing missiles, Sandslash was deep underground. The missiles exploded as they came into contact with the ground.

"Now!"

Sandslash rocketed up through the dissipating explosions, striking Drapion just below the jaw with a vicious uppercut. As the ground pokemon continued past the thrown back drapion, I yelled another command. "Rollout!"

My pokemon became a spinning ball of quills as it changed direction midair. It slammed into the already off balance drapion and forced it back further. Sandslash spun away, coming back to a standing position a few feet away. "Dig again!"

As Sandslash disappeared underground again, Isamu smiled. "You can't hide down there forever and I have just the thing to force you out. Drapion, toxic spikes."

Drapion bent backward and a glowing purple orb formed in it's mouth. This time I knew exactly what was going on. With a roar, Drapion fired the orb towards the ceiling.

I had a plan this time. "Sandslash, focus blast!"

The ground pokemon exploded out of the ground. It lead with it's right claw but wasn't aimed at Drapion. Trailing behind was it's left claw that had a pulsing ball of light blue energy. With a grunt Sandslash heaved the ball. Instead of aiming at the poison pokemon, Sandslash had aimed for the poison attack. The toxic spikes orb was just starting to break up for it's decent when the focus blast slammed into it. The two orbs detonated in mix of blue and purple fire. All four battle participants held their breath for a moment as we waited to see if any of the toxic spikes had survived. After a series of heartbeats, it was clear that none had.

I had to fight a self-satisfied grin that was determined to emerge. "Focus blast!"

This time Sandslash did aim at it's actual opponent. Both my pokemon and myself had forgotten how nimble a drapion could be though. It's trunk of a body curved out of the way and the focus blast sailed right past, exploding against the wall. I had made my first mistake and Isamu was ready.

"Cross poison!"

Drapion crossed it's arms and then flung them and a purple glowing X out at Sandslash.

"Dig!"

Sandslash barely made it underground, the cross poison closing the space faster than it had expected. It's tail only escaped because of the gap at the bottom of the attack. I shuffled to my right as the cross poison flew by a little closer than I was comfortable with. It exploded in a cloud of purple behind me.

"Now Sandslash!" I yelled. "Then rollout!"

My pokemon rocketed out of the ground. Slamming off of Drapion, Sandslash began to roll. That was when it became clear that I had made another mistake. I wasn't sure if it was trying the same trick twice or telegraphing my attacks but Drapion's claws lashed out and locked onto Sandslash. The claws were strong enough that they stopped Sandslash's rolling immediately.

"Slash!" my pokemon squawked in shock and surprise. "Sandslash!"

"Fight it!" was all the support I could offer at the moment. My mind was flashing back to the last time I had faced Isamu. He had held Sandshrew in this exact way before.

It at least started differently this time as Isamu commanded, "Toxic spikes!"

This time I had no chance to counter. As the toxic spikes dispersed and began to drift to the ground, Sandslash broke free. I checked the falling smoke trails and realized I had just a few moments left before the entire battlefield would be laced with poison. I figured it would be a shame to waste those moments.

"Sandslash, use rollout!"

Sandslash dove forward and into a fast roll. Dirt sprayed out behind it as the rolling picked up speed. With a single bounce, Sandslash jumped the cross poison attack that Drapion had launched and slammed into the poison pokemon. The two were thrown apart by the impact.

I slid my hand to my belt as I shouted "Focus blast!"

Sandslash raised it's claws above it's head and a blue and white orb formed out of nothingness. As Sandslash hurled the focus blast at Drapion, I brought up the poke ball I had plucked from my belt. The ground pokemon disappeared into the poke ball as the fighting-type attack exploded on Drapion's flank.

The smoke trails settled into the battlefield and for a heartbeat, the entire field pulsed a poisonous purple. Any pokemon that set foot on it would have a painful poison strike them on occasion. It was a devious strategy that had, at least in my mind, cost me the match last time.

This time I was ready. "Steelix, it's time!"

I wasn't sure, but I thought I saw Isamu pale slightly as the mighty steel pokemon towered over his poison pokemon. Purple lightning lanced up from the ground with wicked intent for Steelix. The small bolts bounced off Steelix's shiny skin and crackled into nonexistence. This time I did allow myself a smile. Poison attacks were completely ineffective against steel pokemon.

"Steelix, iron tail!"

The end segments of Steelix including the wicked point began to glow. With a quick movement, Steelix whipped around and absolutely crushed Drapion. The poison pokemon had taken a fair amount of damage already and crumpled completely.

"Drapion is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Steelix is the winner!"

Isamu took a few moments to collect himself before addressing you. "It would seem that I have underestimated the progress that you have made and the new pokemon you have collected. You have learned of the properties that give steel it's advantages. However, steel is not invulnerable. Skuntank, come forth!"

I could smell the skuntank before I could see it and it was not a pleasant smell. The big purple furred pokemon stared up at Steelix over it's chubby tan cheeks. The thick furred tail that it held over it's body twitched in anticipation of the coming battle. I pulled out my pokedex and read the brief summary on the poison and dark pokemon.

I was about to call for the first attack but Isamu beat me to it. "Flamethrower!"

Instantly I was glad he had beat me to it. I would've blundered in with no idea that a skuntank could use fire attacks. Now I just had to counter one.

"Block it with rock tomb!" I shouted.

Steelix slammed it's tail into the ground. A geyser of rocks shot up in front of it. The flamethrower attack pounded into them but the rocks were successful at defending against the fire attack.

With a moment to think, I had options to consider. Isamu was most likely going to continue to blast away with flamethrower putting Steelix at a disadvantage. I could swap pokemon but two of the other pokemon I had put in my team for this battle were also weak against fire. I had Haunter at my disposal too but with Skuntank's dark-type, all ghost attacks' damage would be halved. Charmeleon was still available but would be subject to the toxic spikes still in the floor.

Then something occurred to me. "Steelix, another rock tomb!"

With Steelix well defended for the moment, I tore my pokedex out of my pocket again. I quickly located the entry I was looking for about attacks and then switched over to an entry on a pokemon. With what I had suspected true, I made my move. "Steelix, return!"

Steelix disappeared into it's poke ball as Skuntank smashed through the rock tombs with the use of night slash. I deposited my steelix onto my belt and grabbed another pokemon. I could only hope that it wouldn't be too tired.

"Sandslash go!" I yelled and then added. "Rapid spin!"

As soon as Sandslash had fully materialized, it stuck it's claws up in the air together and began spinning. Poisonous lightning darted up at the blur of a pokemon and was pulled into the spin. The purple glow on the battlefield suddenly returned. Like a vacuum had been switched on, it all began to get sucked in towards Sandslash. The spinning pokemon became a whirling purple vortex as the toxic spikes were drawn into the spinning. Then Sandslash stopped moving. The purple tornado made a few more revolutions and then became a straight lined wind that slammed into a nearby wall. There was now a big purple stain on the wall but there was no more poison in the floor.

Sandslash flashed me a grin and I returned one. "Guess that worked."

Although I didn't know what other pokemon Isamu had left, I knew for sure that a skuntank couldn't learn toxic spikes. That allowed me to deploy Charmeleon back out onto the field if I needed to. However, I had other ideas. "Now dig!"

Sandslash rushed to get beneath the floor as a blast of fire roared past where it had just been standing.

"Get over there!" Isamu commanded. "Flamethrower down Sandslash's hole!"

Skuntank bounded over and jammed it's head down the hole that Sandslash had just dug. I couldn't actually see the flames but I could see the light from them as they raced into the ground.

"Strike now!" I yelled.

Either it had been resisting the flames or had dug it's way back over because Sandslash exploded out of the ground right underneath Skuntank. The big purple pokemon was thrown on to it's back, still spewing fire. As it rolled over and back onto it's four feet, I recalled Sandslash.

"Haunter, you're up!" The ghost pokemon appeared on the field with a cackle. I wasn't quite sure how or why it found everything in life entertaining but I was all right with it.

"You will regret your tactics," Isamu grumbled. "Skuntank, night slash!"

The big tail began to glow purple. Skuntank charged and whipped the tail around at Haunter. If it connected, Haunter would not be laughing. The ghost pokemon drifted back and was only clipped. It was still a super effective clip. If I didn't put my plan into motion now, it wouldn't ever happen.

"Haunter, use hypnosis!"

The ghost pokemon darted around another night slash and dropped to hover right in front of Skuntank. It's eyes began to glow blue and ring-shaped waves of the same color began to pour out. As they washed over Skuntank, the lids of the poisonous pokemon's eyes began to get heavy. Then they snapped open at the sound of Isamu's voice and Haunter was blasted away with a flamethrower.

I grimaced my pokemon bounced off the wall. After checking to see if it was ok, I did a brief situation check. I hadn't had my haunter all that long and I wasn't sure of it's battle stamina just yet. It wasn't going to be able to trade blows with Skuntank, that was for sure. I figured I had one more shot at using hypnosis before Haunter took a knock-out blow and that's only if it worked. If it failed, Haunter was probably done for.

"Haunter, use shadow punch!" I called. "And follow it in!"

The ghost pokemon thrust one of it's fists forward and a shadowy replica of it shot out at Skuntank. Knowing that it was impossible to dodge, Isamu countered the punch with a night slash. There was a flash of light as the two attacks diffused. When the flash faded, Skuntank found Haunter staring at it less than a foot away.

"Hypnosis!" I threw a punch that I realized had no connection to hypnosis.

This time the blue waves worked. Even despite the sound of it's trainer's voice, Skuntank slumped down into slumber. I had to work quickly if I wanted to complete my plan. I yanked Haunter's poke ball up and recalled the pokemon. I was about to launch my next pokemon when I heard, "Skuntank, return!"

I hadn't been fast enough.

"Nice try but I'm not going to let you pound away on Skuntank while it's asleep." Isamu gave me a cold smile. "You can't fool me that easily. I am a Gym Leader after all."

I lowered my poke ball and waited. Isamu continued to look at me. Then it dawned on me: I had recalled my pokemon first so I had to send mine out first.

"Fine, alright," I muttered. "Butterfree, let's go!"

"A bug for a bug," Isamu replied.

I wasn't sure what he meant until he released his next pokemon. It was rather large for a bug. There were two yellow and purple legs coming off the side of it's red and black body with what looked like two more on it's back. It had a nasty set of mandibles with an equally nasty looking horn above it's purple eyes. I couldn't see but I was willing to bet it had a stinger in the back. I had to use my pokedex to identify it as an ariados.

"Poison in a bug is still poison." I wasn't sure why I said it but I did. "Butterfree, psybeam!"

A beam of shimmering rainbow colors shot out of Butterfree's eyes. It slammed into the ariados and forced it back a few feet. The bug pokemon shook it's head to clear the shock away.

"Ariados, spider web!"

A single silver thread shot out of Ariados' mouth. With amazing speed, it latched onto Butterfree. The thread sprouted into a spider web that raced up my pokemon's body. Once all the threads of the web converged at the top, the entire thing disappeared.

I cocked my head to the side. Butterfree still floated around, seemingly unharmed. I was unsure what to do. The move had to have had some type of effect but I had no idea what. Maybe it reduced speed or something. I decided not to take any chances. "Butterfree, return!"

The light beam from the poke ball bounced right off of Butterfree. Suddenly everything made sense: Butterfree was trapped on the field until it was defeated or the battle ended. Now why Isamu had waited for me to enter the next pokemon made sense. He wanted to make sure it wasn't my charmeleon or another pokemon that could cause lots of damage against his team.

"Now Ariados, pin missile!" Ariados' horn began to glow and a storm of glowing missiles erupted from it.

"Dodge Butterfree!"

Butterfree wasn't made for high speed maneuvering unfortunately. It managed to get around the initial wave but took the next wave full force. The bug pokemon was blasted to the ground and repeatedly struck by more missiles. The only saving grace was that the attacks were of the bug-type; Butterfree's own type reduced the damage it would take from them.

When the onslaught ceased and Butterfree was able to get back up and in the air, I called for my next attack. "Psybeam again!"

Ariados tried to scuttle out of the way but Butterfree's aim was true. The psychic attack hit the ariados in the flank and caused it to loose it's footing. With it off balance, we struck with gust. The powerful winds Butterfree buffeted Ariados, forcing it to the ground.

With Ariados momentarily immobile, I saw probably my best opportunity. "Butterfree, use stun spore!"

From it's higher vantage point, Butterfree began floating in a circle above Ariados. A thin orange mist trailed off of my pokemon's wings, making it look like a living crop duster plane. For it's part, Ariados was quick to regain it's feet. It began racing away from where Butterfree floated but the flying bug pokemon had made a wide arc. Suddenly Ariados arched upwards as small sparks crackled over it's body.

It was paralyzed. But that didn't mean it was helpless.

"Ariados, use sludge bomb!"

From it's mandibles, Ariados unleashed a barrage of nasty piles of sludge. Butterfree tried to dodge as I had commanded but Ariados tracked it. Eventually the poison attack tagged one of Butterfree's wings and sent it into a freefall. Isamu used the opportunity to recall his bug. In it's place he released a seviper.

With Butterfree just now crashing to the ground, Isamu ordered his seviper to advance. The pokemon slithered across the field as I encouraged Butterfree to get back into the air. It shook it's head to regain it's senses and launched back into the air just in time.

Or so I thought.

"Poison fang!" roared Isamu.

Seviper coiled and then sprang higher than I could've ever imagined it could get. It locked it's fangs around my pokemon's foot as they began to glow purple. Purple sparks crackled around the fangs and then there was an explosion that threw the two pokemon apart. Butterfree slammed to the ground and skipped twice.

"Butterfree is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Seviper is the winner!"

I licked my lips as I considered my next choice. I still had five pokemon left and only one of them had taken a serious amount of damage. Sandslash had seen a lot of action and yet had taken little damage but I decided to go another route.

I offered Isamu a cold smile. "A snake for a snake." Then I released Steelix.

"Exactly as I anticipated." Isamu returned my smile. "Seviper, aqua tail."

"Steelix, use dig!"

With water swirling around it's tail, Seviper looked on helplessly as Steelix quickly vanished from sight. Isamu ordered his pokemon to keep moving to try and avoid the oncoming attack. It made little difference. Steelix exploded up from beneath the battlefield, ripping an enormous hole in it. Seviper avoided the brunt of the attack but was still sent flying. Debris pelted it as Steelix fully emerged.

"Iron tail!" I roared, miming Steelix's tail with an open hand I slammed it downward.

Steelix responded by smashing down it's glowing tail onto the seviper that was too slow to escape. Chunks of the field flew everywhere. When Steelix drew back it's tail, I couldn't see Seviper at all.

The ref ran over from his spot to peer down into the hole. "Seviper is unable to battle! Steelix is the winner!"

I had Isamu in a real spot now and he knew it. He was down to half of his starting pokemon and one was asleep and another was paralysed. There was only one completely healthy pokemon of his original six remaining. I, on the other hand, still had five of my six and only two had seen extensive action.

Isamu did still have some surprises. "Tentacruel, come forth!"

I had seen pictures of tentacruel before but seeing one in person was totally different. The way it's big blue head with the red crystals was held up by it's multitude of tentacles and those nasty blue stingers was way more disconcerting in person. It's deep-set eyes seemed to stare right down to my soul.

"Like I said earlier," Isamu said quietly. "Steel is not unstoppable. Tentacruel, hydro pump!"

The blue stinger on Tentacruel's face lifted and a powerful jet of shimmering water blasted out. Steelix roared in pain as the water punched it backwards and drove it into the wall. I was frozen in shock for a moment but was able to recover enough to instruct Steelix to dig, which it did and escaped the hydro pump.

With Steelix at least safe for the moment, I had a decision to make. The only pokemon I carried on my team that had attacks that would be super effective against the poison pokemon were weak to it's other type. Although it felt like I had agonized over the choice for minutes, barely five seconds had gone by when I made my decision.

"Steelix, use dig!"

The ground trembled and then the mighty steel pokemon erupted from down below. Tentacruel wasn't especially quick despite it's many legs and was thrown into the air.

"Now use rock tomb!"

Steelix twisted about and slammed it's tail into the ground. A sharp pillar of rock jutted out and struck the airborne water pokemon before sinking back down. Showing surprising agility, Tentacruel twisted around and landed feet first on the wall. Flexing it's tentacles, it launched itself back at Steelix.

Isamu roared, "Hydro pump!"

"Ice fang!"

The pillar of water met the two jagged bolts of icy power. Suspended by the two attacks, a giant ice crystal began forming in the air. It grew so rapidly that I quickly lost sight of Tentacruel. The water pokemon reappeared climbing over the top of the ice crystal that had begun to drop. It launched itself at Steelix once more. With their closer proximity, Steelix and I didn't have a chance to react. Tentacles began appearing from somewhere beneath Tentacruel and soon it had firmly wrapped itself around Steelix's face.

"Shake it loose Steelix!" I yelled.

"Hydro pump!" Isamu roared again.

The blue stinger moved slightly and suddenly there was water spraying off of Steelix's face. The steel pokemon bellowed in pain as it tried in vain to shake the smaller pokemon free. Steelix's movements became wobbly as it took another blast from the hydro pump.

"Steelix, no!"

The long steel body went limp and crashed to the ground. My mouth was agape as Tentacruel slithered away. Steelix's eyes were closed and it's jaw hung loose. The ref was peering over from his spot and I had a sinking feeling.

I balled my fists. "Come on Steelix! You can do this! I believe in you!"

The ref raised a hand. "Steelix is un-" He was cut off by a mighty roar.

Steelix's eyes snapped back open. It slowly lifted it's head and if looks could kill, we would've won the match right then. The rest of Steelix's body began moving as well. It's tail began viciously whipping around. The spikes on it's sides twitched with anticipation. It's blocky teeth ground together so hard that I actually thought they might shatter.

"Thank you Steelix," I said softly. I had a feeling that the pokemon would never let me down after what I had done for it. Now it was time for us to make good on this second wind. "Iron tail!"

Isamu was ready. "Counter with hydro pump!"

The blast of water slammed into the falling, glowing tail but Steelix wasn't to be denied. With a force of effort, Steelix cleaved the water attack in two and crushed Tentacruel with it's overwhelming power.

"Now follow up with rock tomb!"

Steelix twitched it's tail and slammed it down again. A pillar of rock shot up and launched Tentacruel again. I could hear Isamu plotting his counterattack but I ordered Steelix to dig. A hydro pump struck harmlessly on the ridge of the hole Steelix had just dug. I watched Tentacruel in freefall and waited until it had built up a lot of downward momentum. "Now Steelix!"

The steel snake blasted out of the ground and struck Tentacruel with a sickening splat-like noise. All of Tentacruel's kinetic energy had just been used against it. It was like a high-speed collision between a freight train and a go-kart. Tentacruel was slammed so hard into the wall that the wall actually fractured.

"Tentacruel is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Steelix is the winner!"

I was practically exploding with joy. "You did it Steelix!"

I got a mighty roar in reply. I smiled and recalled the pokemon. It had done more than enough for now.

Isamu fixed me with a dirty look. He was in a deep hole now. "Ariados, come forth!"

With a grin I reached for my only pokemon I hadn't used yet. "A bug for a bug. Heracross, let's go!"

Heracross burst into existence and slammed down onto the field. It stretched it's arms out and reared it's horn back. "Hera-cross!"

Isamu made the first move. "Ariados, use pin missile!"

I made a sweeping motion with my hand. "Dodge it using aerial ace!"

Heracross shot into the air as the glowing missiles started exploding around it. The beetle pokemon made a wide arc around the room, missiles tracking it all the way and exploding against the wall. A second volley came and Heracross dove, picking up speed and trailing white energy. Unlike Butterfree, Heracross was made for pinpoint maneuvering. It deftly sidestepped the incoming attacks and plowed into Ariados and sent it sprawling backwards.

Isamu called out as his pokemon righted itself, "Ariados, poison jab!"

"Counter with night slash!"

The two purple attacks struck one another and a small explosion emerged. Both pokemon were thrown backwards. Heracross stayed on it's feet and slid back a few feet. Ariados wasn't so lucky. It's legs gave out as it slid and it tumbled.

An opening that we couldn't pass up. "Heracross, use horn attack!"

Wings burst out of the blue shell to propel Heracross forward. Ariados was just getting it's feet under it as Heracross lowered it's horn. The X-shaped horn plowed into the poison pokemon. With an extra effort, Heracross lifted Ariados off it's feet and drove it into the wall. The red and black striped pokemon slid down in a heap.

"Ariados is unable to battle!" The ref didn't bother getting a closer look. "Heracross is the winner!"

He was a Gym Leader so Isamu could do nothing but continue the battle. He didn't show any sign of it but I knew that I would just want to throw in the towel. One sleeping pokemon versus five mostly fresh pokemon were long odds for any trainer. Isamu gave me a slight nod as he released Skuntank back on the field. He knew that he was essentially beaten. All he could do now is make me work for it.

Skuntank was snoozing peacefully as it appeared on the field. It actually looked kind of cute all curled up, using it's tail as a pillow. I almost felt bad waking it up.

Almost.

"Heracross, horn attack!"

Skuntank quickly woke up as Heracross slammed into it and then crushed it into the wall not far from where it had done the same thing with Ariados. The big furry pokemon had taken far less damage than Ariados had though and slapped Heracross aside with a night slash. With Skuntank now awake, I recalled Heracross as I was well aware of it's flamethrower now.

"Sandslash, let's finish this off with dig!"

The poison and dark pokemon wasn't going to make it easy though. It bounded around the field to make it hard to hit. Sandslash must've detected a pattern that I didn't or maybe just got lucky because the ground pokemon exploded out of the ground claws first right underneath Skuntank. The purple pokemon was lifted off it's feet completely and thrown back.

"Focus blast!"

Sandslash landed and lower it's claws bottoms up in front of it's body. The glowing orb of light blue energy pulsed into life between it's hands. It took a brief moment for the energy to stabilize before Sandslash pulled back it's left claw and heaved the focus blast at Skuntank. The orb detonated on contact. When the smoke cleared, Skuntank was still where I had last seen it.

The ref ran up to it to make sure before declaring, "Skuntank is unable to battle! Victory to Sandslash and the challenger Tim!"

I charged onto the field screaming, "We did it Sandslash! I love you!"

I was glad that Sandslash realized I was coming and turned around because trying to hug the spiky side would've been really unpleasant. I swung the ground pokemon around as it buzzed happily and pumped it's claws in the air. When I noticed Isamu approaching, I set the pokemon down and returned it to it's poke ball.

He tipped his head to me. "You have made remarkable progress. I cannot remember the last time I have seen such a turnaround in such a short time. You show great promise as a trainer. I predict many great things in your future."

I gave him a slight bow like I had seen in martial arts movies. "I owe much of it to you. You obliterated me last time. It drove me to train and I learned how to trust in my pokemon."

"Your pokemon learned to trust in you too. Your steelix must truly care for you to have continued that battle."

It took a moment, but I shared the story of how I met Onix and how it had eventually become Steelix. Isamu smiled and motioned for me to follow him. We walked through the door at the side of the room and down a short hallway. He opened a panel and had me swipe my trainer ID through a machine for my winnings deposit and electronic record of my win.

He reached further into the cupboard and pulled something out. "This is for you. It is the Soul Badge." It was very similar to a pink heart that had been squeezed slightly. I didn't mention that it looked a little girly to me as I took it and slipped it into my backpack with the others.

I was led to a small waiting room at the end of the hallway and told I could wait here or take the door back to the front room. I thanked the Gym Leader and decided to wait here. I hesitated and then added, "Make sure you thrash my friends pretty good."

Isamu laughed. "I shall do my best."

Leaning back in the chair, I tried to get comfortable. It was easier said than done though because I was pretty sure I had sat in a similar chair while waiting at the doctor's office and it wasn't very comfy then either. Eventually I found a relaxing position with my feet propped up on another chair. With nothing to do I began scrolling through my pokedex and tried to learn a thing or two.

My learning was interrupted by Dylan kicking the door open at least half an hour later and shouting "BOOM!"

I was on my feet in an instant. "You won?"

"Of course I won!" Dylan scoffed. "Gliscor and Dustox were masterful in their first real battle. Our training really paid off!"

With a smile, I informed him of the results of my battle.

Dylan couldn't or maybe wouldn't believe it. "You only lost one pokemon? No way! I was down to my last two!"

"Well my types did match up better than yours," I offered with a shrug. "And let's be honest: Steelix is a beast."

Dylan laughed. "True story there. I saw what you did to that field. It was a mess. I wrecked it even worse. I think Isamu said he had a backup one though."

With time to waste, we shared more in-depth versions of our battles. Apparently Dylan's gyarados had gone toe-to-toe with the same drapion I had faced. I really wished I had gotten to see that battle. Dylan was impressed with how well Butterfree and Haunter had faired since I had never used them in a serious battle before.

Our conversation was interrupted by David bursting through the door, pumping his fist. "Hell yeah!"

He joined in our conversation of how our battles had gone. It became a little bit tricky because none of us wanted to reveal our newest pokemon just yet. David did let slip that his geodude had evolved into a graveller though and it had lead his team in battle. We tiptoed our way through the conversation until an excited Vanessa burst through the door.

She, like the rest of us, had been victorious. Suddenly everything was right in the universe. At least for us, anyway.


	30. Chapter 30

Isamu stood in the doorway and let us enjoy our celebration for a moment before speaking. "Where are you headed now?"

We all stopped talking and looked at each other. In our jubilation, we hadn't even begun to talk about traveling.

"Well… I don't know," I said. "I think the grass gym in Florida is probably the closest isn't it?"

David nodded. "It's either that or we head straight west to the fire gym. I'd like that. Vlad would clean house."

"What about the rest of us?" Vanessa chided him. "Not all of us have a water pokemon as our powerhouse."

"Dylan does," David pointed out.

"Might I make a suggestion?" Isamu interrupted, sensing a full argument might break out.

We all went silent and looked to him.

"Down in Richmond, Virginia there is a tournament being held," Isamu began. "Anyone with at least three badges but less than six may enter. I believe that prizes of pokemon are being offered to those who do well. I think you should head there to test your skills. Trainers from all over will be attending."

Creases appeared on David's forehead. "Can we make it in time? It's got to be…" He paused for a moment as he though. "Close to a week's walk."

"Closer to ten days," Isamu admitted. "However, the tournament does not start for at least two full weeks. As long as you make good time, you shouldn't have a problem making it there."

"If we do that, it wouldn't be all that far to the gym in Florida," Dylan said, more to himself than anyone else.

"A chance to battle and win pokemon? I like the sound of that!" I flashed my friends a grin.

No one could come up with a reason why we shouldn't, so it was agreed. We bid Isamu farewell and departed his gym. The afternoon sun was high in the sky now. It was nearing the end of summer but it was still incredibly warm out. Despite our desire to get on the road, we went to the park.

Liberty State Park was only a few miles away and we made the walk in good time. Passing a street vendor, Vanessa and I some fantastic authentic tacos while Dylan and David found a hotdog cart. The food was devoured long before we reached the park entrance and we deposited the trash in a nearby receptacle.

The park was well maintained although it really wasn't all that different from any other nation park. Well, besides the Statue of Liberty off in the distance. We offered up a salute to the great monument as she stood proudly in the distance. To our surprise, the park wasn't very busy. I had half expected to be challenged by rival trainers. Eventually I was, but not by the ones I had expected.

"So!" Vanessa suddenly whipped around, releasing David's hand. Dylan and I stumbled to a stop so we wouldn't run into her. "We have to battle now! It's tradition!"

A grin formed on my face. "That it is! Shall we go one-on-one or should we change it up and go for a double battle?"

"Which ever we way go," David jumped in before Dylan could speak, "it should be a 'new pokemon only' battle."

This took me by surprise and I said as much.

"We all caught new pokemon right?" David looked to the others. "Why not work on building up their strength so they'll be capable battlers sooner rather than later?"

Dylan and I exchanged glances that probably weren't as covert as we thought they were. We were both well aware of David's training methods. Any pokemon that he planned on including in his team would be given rigorous training right at the start.

Despite knowing this, we relented. "Sure, why not?"

Without having any type of debate at all, we instantly split off into our teams: Dylan and me versus Vanessa and David. Now that they were of imminent importance, I took in my surroundings. Our wanderings had taken us to the edge of the grass and quite close to the water. There was a fair amount of vegetation leading up to the water.

"What do you think?" I asked Dylan. "I'm not crazy about being near this water."

He nodded. "I don't think David's new pokemon is a water type but I don't know what Vanessa has. I think I'm going to use Gliscor."

"Really? Not Croagunk?"

Dylan offered a shrug. "Gliscor is newer."

I couldn't argue the logic. "I was going to use Steelix but all this water doesn't bode well."

"Butterfree?"

"No, I'm thinking Haunter. That'd give us a pretty unexpected team."

Dylan nodded his consent and we turned to face our friends. Both of them already had poke balls in their hands. Vanessa stood closer to the water than the rest of us and I had to wonder if she had been waiting to ask for the battle until we were on the coastline. It made me even more glad that I had decided against using Steelix now.

"Ready?" Dylan called.

"Ready!" David called back. "Go!"

We all threw our poke balls and I was astonished at what came out. David's was a small turtwig that I recognized as a grass-type but that wasn't what shocked me. It was a big blue pokemon with a grey shell on it's back. It had a long neck with a small horn protruding between two rounded ears. Instead of legs though, the pokemon sat upon four flippers. I recognized it easily but still couldn't believe I was seeing it.

"A lapras?" I choked out. "You caught a lapras?"

"No need to sound so surprised," Vanessa admonished as her pokemon slipped into the water.

I flubbed over a few more words and then decided against replying.

"Mind if I get things underway?" David was already pointing to the field. Clearly he was going to get things started regardless of what we said. "Lenny, use razor leaf!"

"Dodge!" Dylan and I yelled in unison.

Gliscor used it's tail to bounce into the sky while Haunter floated to the side. Gliscor made a loop around the battlefield and Vanessa's lapras sunk beneath the waves. I didn't understand why she would abandon David to face the two of us.

She quickly made it clear she wasn't. "Lapras, water pulse!"

The water roiled and suddenly a light blue orb of water shot out of the water. Gliscor had no idea where Lapras had been exactly and was caught completely off guard. A watery explosion engulfed the flying ground pokemon and sent it careening off course. Lenny chased after it, trying to spray it with razor leaves.

"Little help here?" Dylan hissed.

"On it. Haunter, use night shade on Lenny!"

Haunter's eyes pulsed red and then jagged black beams blasted out. They missed the running turtwig but struck the ground beneath it. The dirt exploded and tossed the small grass pokemon aside. Haunter cackled to itself, made a sudden drop in altitude to dodge a water pulse, and then cackled again. I had caught a weird ghost pokemon.

"Gliscor, earth power!" Dylan yelled, taking advantage of the downed turtwig.

A golden aura encapsulated Gliscor as it recovered from it's freefall and dove for the ground. It punched it's right claw into the ground and cracks emanating the same golden light raced out. As one of the fissures formed under Lenny, the pokemon cried out in pain. It rolled off the crack and the light faded.

"Lapras, use ice shard!"

A huge chunk of ice blasted out of the water like a missile. This time Haunter was the unlucky target and was driven into a nearby tree where the ice exploded into tiny pieces. Haunter was not laughing anymore.

"We've got to do something about that Lapras," Dylan growled, bunching his fists. "She's just going to keep it down there and cherry pick at her convenience."

I smiled. "Again, I'm on it. Haunter, use shadow punch on Lapras!"

Haunter made a punching motion and the shadowy replica of it's fist shot out. Instead of detonating when it hit the water, it disappeared. Half a second later, a plume of water appeared. Lapras' head broke the surface as it cried out.

"Can't avoid shadow punch," I said with a grin. "Again!"

"Lapras, use water pulse!" As the two attacks smashed into each other and detonated, Vanessa flashed me a smile and said, "But you can block it."

"Lenny, use bite!" David ordered.

The turtwig had regained it's feet when I wasn't paying attention but it wasn't going for my pokemon. Lenny clamped down on Gliscor's tail and refused to let go even when Gliscor took to the air.

David whispered something to Vanessa and she yelled, "Lapras, use water pulse on Gliscor!"

"Dodge it!" Dylan countered.

Gliscor opened it's wings and caught a draft that lifted it higher. It didn't escape fast enough and the water pulse struck it's segmented tail. Then I realized what David had said to Vanessa. Water pulse would barely bother Lenny if it hit the grass pokemon but would still hurt Gliscor. It was damned clever thinking.

As Gliscor spun out of control, Lenny released it's grasp when David yelled, "Razor leaf on Haunter!"

The turtwig landed on all four legs and whipped it's head around. From the twig that sprouted from the top of it's head, a cloud of spinning leaves erupted. Haunter had been hovering over the water waiting for Lapras and was caught by surprise. It was at that moment that I realized how well David had already trained his turtwig. Haunter had only been hit by two attacks and it was already suffering. The surprise razor leaf had done a considerable amount of damage.

"Distract Lenny for a moment, will you?" Dylan hissed.

I nodded. "Haunter, hypnosis!"

The ghost pokemon swung around and it's eyes glowed a light blue. Circular blue waves pulsed out. They expanded as they roamed out but began contracting as they neared David's pokemon. The first few touched home but David got his pokemon moving before it could become more than a little drowsy. Haunter adjusted it's position to keep Lenny on the move.

Dylan waited for just the right moment to spring. Lenny was swaying on it's feet when Dylan issued his command. "Fire fang!"

Flames erupted from Gliscor's mouth as it sprang from where it had crashed. Planting a claw on either side of Lenny, Gliscor bit down. An explosion forced Haunter to float away and I knew we had our opponents on the ropes now. Or so I thought.

"Lapras use water pulse on Lenny and Gliscor! Then use ice shard!" Vanessa shouted.

The blue head broke the surface of the water, water orb already formed in front of it's mouth. The water pulse cut right through the ball of flames. Vanessa's command had confused me at first until I saw the water explode out and douse the fire into nonexistence. Lenny was free and Gliscor was hurt. I was preparing my counterassault when the ice shard blasted into Haunter, not Gliscor like I had been expecting.

"Hang in there Haunter!" I encouraged the pokemon as it listed dangerously to the side.

"Sing!" Vanessa ordered.

I winced as Lapras drew in a deep breath. A well-focused sing would put it's target to sleep. An unfocused sing would put everyone in the area to sleep. I could only hope that Vanessa had trained her pokemon well and that both Haunter and me could withstand it.

"Haunt… haunt… haunt…," Haunter mumbled as it's eyes rolled back in it's head. With a slight wobble, the ghost pokemon drifted down to the ground.

"Uh oh," I said under my breath.

"Finish it Lenny! Razor leaf!"

Lenny the turtwig exploded with leaves. I shouted to my pokemon but it was deeply asleep. The rush of leaves tore through it, tossing the ghost pokemon around violently. When the final leaf had passed, there was nothing I could do but return my pokemon to it's poke ball.

"Sorry," I said to my pokemon and then looked to Dylan. "Sorry to you too. Good luck."

My friend grimaced. "Thanks. I have no idea how I'm going to even hit that lapras yet."

"You might not have to worry," I said as I eyed the shore. "It's coming out."

Dylan was quick to act. "Gliscor, poison jab!"

By the time he realized it was a trap, it was too late. Vanessa had made Lapras emerge from the water to draw Dylan in, knowing that he knew it would be his best and possibly only shot at the water pokemon. David and Lenny were in perfect position and blew Gliscor away with a cloud of razor leaves the second it's back was turned. As the flying ground pokemon tried to dive out of the way, Lapras scored with a direct hit with ice shard; a doubly super-effective move. Gliscor plummeted to the ground and crashed not far from where Haunter had lost the battle.

"Well played," I said as we all met in the center of our makeshift battlefield. "You sure took advantage of your surroundings." I looked to Vanessa. "I kind of had an idea you might have a new water pokemon when you brought up battling this close to the water but I had no idea you had a lapras."

"I didn't even think catching them was legal," Dylan added.

"Oh sure it is," Vanessa waved us off. "I made sure before I took it home." She then began telling us the story of how she had heard it singing and then befriended the ice pokemon while we made our way out of the park. It was the kind of cute story that you could make an episode of a cartoon show about.

We made a quick stop into a nearby pokemon center to get our pokemon healed up. While we were waiting, I logged on to a public computer and pulled up my email account. I didn't have anything but spam in the inbox of course. Clicking the 'compose' button I fired off a quick email to Professor Oak. The message consisted of me telling him that Professor Birch had wondered if they could use my haunter to evaluate their new mountainous habitat so I was sending the pokemon on the condition that someone train with it every now and then. I clicked 'send' and rose from the chair.

I was standing in front of the transfer machine when a bulky machine behind it caught my eye. There was a counter that had two small divots in it. Sprouting up behind the counter was a pile of machinery that had two arms that looked almost like vacuum tubs that hung down just above the divots in the counter. I had seen it in most of the pokemon centers I had been in but I had no idea what it was.

The nurse arrived with Haunter and I asked, "What is that machine?"

"Are you serious?" she fixed me with a skeptical look.

My cheeks redden slightly. "Yeah, seriously. What is it?"

"How do you not know what that is? It's an official trading machine. Any pokemon sent through there will have the trainer ID number attached to it changed so the trade is official. Otherwise people could just steal pokemon and claim that they traded for them." She rolled her eyes as she left.

I felt a little foolish as I punched Oak's transfer code into the transfer machine. I probably should have known what that was by now, it had just never occurred to me to ask about it. The nurse probably could've been a little nicer about it anyway. I put Haunter into the machine and watched it disappear. Then I followed with Grimer and then the nincada I had caught just before leaving New York. I didn't plan on using either pokemon for a while and figured some time at Oak's might do them good.

After a quick trip to a store a few buildings down for Dylan and I to purchase some new shoes and a brief stop to a grocery store, we were followed a road south-west out of town. A well-worn dirt path broke off from the road and after a quick GPS consultation, we decided to follow. It took us though patches of forests, but mainly fields and one odd ravine. There were traces of pokemon life along the path. We saw some starly flying overhead and some bellsprout milling about but nothing we felt compelled to stop and try and catch.

As we walked, it became apparent that something had shifted within our small traveling group. Before we had all walked as a group or interchangeable pairs. Now it was clearly divided. Dylan and I walked together and several paces ahead of us walked David and Vanessa. The time apart and more likely the blowup we had before it had cleaved our big group into two smaller ones. Notably absent was the laughter that used to float among us. Now when the two groups interacted, it was all business.

Staring at the back of the heads, I couldn't help but think about the two trainers that had become my friends. Vanessa was a prototypical trainer. She did things more or less by the book and used her favorites in battle. David, on the other hand, was something much different.

"What do you make of David?" I finally asked Dylan after much deliberation and after David was far enough ahead of us.

Dylan turned a cautious eye to me. "What do you mean?"

"As a trainer. He's not like any other trainer we've met. Think about it." I held up a finger for each point I made. "He only catches pokemon he thinks will be useful to him. He does intensive individual training. Despite not having the resources we do, he might be even more knowledgeable about pokemon than we are. He's cold-blooded in battle but yet cares deeply about all his pokemon."

It was more than a minute late when Dylan finally responded. "I don't know. He's not my favorite person in the world, but I respect him as a trainer. I think his individual training sessions spawn from the fact that he has a limited pool of pokemon to draw from when it comes to battling. He has to keep them strong because they're the only ones he has." He paused for a moment. "Clearly whatever he's doing is working. I mean, we're not topnotch trainers but we're still good and well… you were at that last battle."

I couldn't dispute anything he said so I let the subject drop. The conversation had sent my mind wandering though. A thought bubbled to the surface. It was more of a question that had lingered at the back of my consciousness for quite a while. I had always buried it away, incase the answer wasn't what I wanted to hear.

"What if I had said no?" I blurted out.

"Huh?" Dylan said. "No to what?"

"The tournament. What if I had said no? What if I didn't take your deal? Would you have still tried to make it to the Pokemon League?"

Dylan abruptly stopped in his tracks. His blue eyes met my brown eyes. Finally he said, "Which do you want to hear?"

I was confused. "What?"

"Which do you want to hear?" he repeated. "Do you want to hear the answer that you want or do you want to hear the real answer?" He started walking again.

"You would've gone without me," I said as I fell back in step.

He shrugged. "Yeah, probably. It was something I had been considering for a while then. I was leaning pretty heavily in that direction. The whole tournament thing just pushed it over the edge." He glanced over at me. "Sorry. I know that's not what you wanted to hear."

I sighed. "It's not what I wanted to hear but what I expected to hear. For what it's worth, it would've been the wrong choice to stay if I didn't agree. You've got a lot of talent and it would've been wasted."

"Can you even imagine staying now?" Dylan said with a short laugh. "We're not exactly impartial judges but I'd say we both have a lot of talent that would've gone to waste. We were born to be out here."

Silence reigned again until Dylan said, "You know, we should've gone double or nothing."

"Double or nothing?" I repeated, not really understanding at all what he was talking about.

"Back at the park," he clarified. "Against David and Vanessa. If we had battled them again, we would've crushed them."

I contemplated this. "Yeah, I suppose."

"You suppose?" Dylan was taken aback. "If we counted evolutions as new pokemon, we'd be set."

"How so?"

"David let it slip that his graveler had evolved which would most likely have been his pokemon. I don't know what else Vanessa has but I kind of got the feeling that she captured mostly water pokemon. Even if her mareep evolved, it wouldn't matter. Knowing that David pretty much had to use a rock pokemon, I would've used Ivysaur. That'd have an advantage over a graveller and be resistant to an electric type. And then there's you."

"Me?"

"Odds are neither of them would have another powerful water pokemon, so why wouldn't you use Steelix?"

I smiled. "You're right. It would've been game over. I mean, what can stand up to that?"

"Exactly."

The path we were following was surprisingly devoid of trainers. By the time we stopped to eat, we had only seen one other trainer who was heading back the way we had come from. She acknowledged us with a wave but didn't stop to ask for a battle or anything of the sort. It was a lonely stretch of road.

"What's for dinner tonight?" David asked as we dug around in our packs. "I've got cold canned pasta."

"We could build a fire," I offered, raising an eyebrow.

"Too much trouble. If we were staying here for the night that'd be one thing. I rather not waste the time."

I shrugged in response and dug out a loaf of bread and some peanut butter. After checking to make sure the bread hadn't gone stale, I slathered the peanut butter on it. Dylan had also dug out a can of pasta and Vanessa was munching on various snacks. It was about as far away from a gourmet meal as one could get.

"What's that?" Dylan asked, pointing at David's pocket. There was a rolled up sheet of paper protruding from his side pocket.

"Oh this?" After David set down his empty can, he pulled the sheet out and unrolled it. "I saw it stapled to a tree and found it interesting. Here, take a look."

He passed the sheet to Dylan who read it and then passed it to me. The words were in thick black lettering and read:

_Prepare for trouble_

_Make it double_

_To protect the world from devastation_

_To unite all peoples within our nation_

_To denounce the evils of truth and love_

_To extend our reach to the stars above_

At the bottom was big block 'R' in a crimson red color.

"Ok," I said, drawing the word out as I handed the sheet back to David. "I'm not sure if interesting is the word I would've used."

David folded it up and put it in his pocket. "It just makes me curious about whoever put it there. Almost like a recruiting poster."

"Would you really want to be recruited by that?" Vanessa asked around a mouthful. "I mean 'To denounce the evils of truth and love'? Seriously?"

"They probably don't mean literally," David explained with a calming gesture. "I'm sure it's a metaphor for something. You can't argue that the third and fourth lines aren't appealing though. Protecting the world from devastation and united all peoples seems like a good thing."

"Depends on what you're uniting them under," Dylan countered. "Flag of peace? Sure, that's fine. Flag of… I don't know… gambling? Not good."

I coughed up the sip of water I had been trying to drink. "Gambling? That's the best you could come up with?"

Dylan's reply was a rude hand gesture.

"It's not like I'm joining them or anything," David said. "I just thought they're flyer was interesting. I'm not even sure what the group's name is."

David tapped his pocket once to make sure the flyer was still in there and that was the last we spoke of it.

The next few days were slow going. Rain plagued us during the days and left the nights on the cool side, trending dangerously towards cold. The weather patterns struck me as odd until I realized that summer was essentially over. With September rolling around, Dylan and I had officially been on the quest over three months now. With three badges and fifteen pokemon not counting evolutions under my belt, I felt like we had been pretty productive. Our goal had been to finish in time to enter in the next Pokemon Tournament in June and we were on pace to finish well before then.

As we began getting closer to Virginia and our eventual destination of Richmond, traffic on our path began to pick up. It seemed that the tournament was drawing a quite a crowd from all over the Eastern United States. As the population rose, so did the desire to battle. I found myself challenged by a guy who was probably a few years older than me. He clearly hadn't been at it as long as I had and I rolled through him using just Mudkip. Something told me he didn't know that he needed at least three badges to get into the tournament.

We crossed the line into Richmond three days before the tournament was scheduled to start. The city was abuzz with three different types of people: people who normally lived there, people there for the tournament, and people trying to get the trainers to spend their money. The third group was offering everything from food and action figures to oil paintings and balloon pokemon to the second group, mostly the people who had come to watch the tournament. Any trainer with a shred of sense wasn't wasting his or her hard earned money on anything but food or lodging.

The pokemon center nearest to the tournament fields was already full to capacity and we were turned away when we inquired about lodging. The next two were as well. Eventually we found a cheap little hotel about a half hour's walk away that we decided wasn't too big of a rip-off.

After dropping our bags off, we headed back into the city. We took in a few of the local sites before we inevitably found our way to where the tournament fields were being constructed. I had expected to find just a couple of plain battlefields and what I saw shocked me. There was indeed a plain battlefield but just one. One field was being covered by rocks, reminding me of the Gym back in Detroit. Another field was a mixture of grass and small ponds of water. The final was looking to be a mixture between the three with small pools of water, grassy patches and rocky pillars.

"Wow," Dylan said as we watched from afar. "Would you look at that? This really is the big time."

"You don't even know the half of it," David said as he walked up. He had been conversing with someone else nearby. "Apparently this is a sanctioned Pokemon League tournament with national television coverage. ESPN is doing coverage. This is a huge tournament!"

"You're serious?" I asked. "We're going to be on TV?"

He shrugged. "That guy didn't know all the details. My guess is there's no way they can show all the matches so they'll pick and choose for the first few rounds and then all the later rounds will be televised."

Both excited and scared about being on TV, we tore our eyes away from the field construction so we could go get registered. We had to wait over an hour before it was finally our turn. The registration office seemed to be packed. If I had been forced to guess, I would've had to say that they didn't expect this kind of turnout. They were most likely already amending tournament and prize rules as I filled out my registration form.

It took another day before I was proved right. The four of us were relaxing in a local park when our phones rang simultaneously. All four screens were showing the exact same number. When we answered, all of us got the same message.

"_Hello. This is Richmond Pokemon Tournament chairwoman Leslie Kerrigan with an important message for all participating trainers._

_Due to the overwhelming number of trainers that have registered for the tournament, several changes have been made. The first six rounds will now be one-on-one battles. Each pokemon can only be entered in one battle until after the first six rounds when previously used pokemon may be used again. Each battle will now have a time lime that we may get all battles in on their scheduled days._

_There has also been a slight change in the prize giveaway. Prizes will still be given away to all that win at least one match but live pokemon will be reserved for those who win multiple battles. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. The tournament still begins at nine a.m. the day after tomorrow morning. Thank you."_

"Well that sucks," I said, looking at my phone.

"It only sucks if you suck," Dylan joked. "Win and you'll get something good."

"Does anyone even know what type of pokemon they're giving away?" Vanessa asked. "I heard a couple rumors but that's it."

"Dratini," David said, his eyes flashing.

I whirled around. "Are you serious?" I liked the mix of types that my team had now but I was more than willing to make room for a dragon-type.

"Well not all of them are," David said. "I found a booklet in the hotel lobby and was reading about it. You'd have to do pretty well to get a dratini would be my guess. It sounded like they were going to give away some pre-evolution pokemon and some others but nothing super rare. Well, besides the dratini."

"Pre-evolution pokemon aren't all bad," I said, thinking fondly of when Pikachu was still a pichu.

"I'd be alright with one," Vanessa agreed with a bob of her head. "They keep finding more and more. There's grass, normal, fire, electric, and probably other types! You could get anything!"

We did a bit of training later in the day before turning in after a filling dinner at a home-style diner. With one more day before the tournament started, we spent it relaxing with intermittent training. It wasn't so much that we felt like we were that much better than the competition, it was just that we knew we wouldn't have that much time to relax once we got back on the road.

On the way back to our hotel that final night, I hear someone call my name. I was immediately confused because everyone I knew was already walking with me. Turning around, I saw someone about my age coming towards me. He had longish hair that draped over his ears. His collared shirt looked kind of dirty as did his stylish shorts.

As I realized that I did know him, I stepped forward and extended my hand. "Jake! How you doing?"

Jake smiled, clearly pleased that I remembered him as well. It hadn't been all that long ago when we had battled on Trainers' Pass. It was the first time I had used Sandshrew and learned that it was far from battle ready.

"Doing good," Jake said as he pumped my hand. "You in town for the tournament?"

"Of course." I took a moment to introduce my friends. "I'm guessing you're here for the same reason?"

Jake smiled again. "Yeah. Wasn't sure I was going to make it at first. Just got my third badge a few days ago. That poison Gym was crazy. I really had to hustle down here to just make it in time for the registration."

"Know what you mean about the poison Gym. Isamu absolutely thrashed me the first time we battled. I got my revenge though."

"Same here. Barely scraped by in the rematch. Well anyways, I'm on my way back to my hotel but I thought I'd stop and say hi. Good luck in the tournament."

"You too," I said as I began to turn and toss him a wave. "Good seeing you."

On the way back, Dylan and I sent our parents quick text messages telling them about the tournament and that we might possibly even be on TV. Replies promising to record it and wishing us luck soon followed. Not long after that, our phones began exploding with text messages. Apparently word traveled quickly among our family and friends and we both had a plethora of well-wishers.

Dylan and I were up early the next morning. We both took our time in the bathroom. We had to make sure we were clean and clean-shaven for the cameras. There was no way we were going to possibly make our nation television debut looking like we had crawled out of the gutter. Vanessa and David were waiting for us in the lobby. After a quick breakfast of pastries, we were on our way.

The main area was completely packed. Vendors lines the area, selling anything and everything. We eventually pushed our way to a registration area and got checked in. Each of us was handed a battle schedule card with a trainer's pass on a lanyard that we all looped around our necks.. It indicated where and when our first battle was to be and then when and where the winner of that match would battle next. There was going to be three battles each hour on each field for twelve battles an hour. They were really determined to keep this a three day tournament if they could.

"My first match is at eleven," Vanessa announced. "What about you guys?"

"Ten-twenty," said David.

"Nine-forty," said Dylan.

"I can't find me…," I said. "Oh wait, there I am. Ten on the dot."

With almost an hour before the first of us battled, we wandered around the area some more to drink it all in. Stadium seating had been constructed around the fields since our last visit. It didn't look like it would be especially comfortable but it was already filling up at all four fields. As we walked around, I saw a few other faces that I was pretty sure I recognized from Trainers' Pass. The tournament really had drawn people in.

Our trainer's passes allowed us access to a small area of reserved seating at each field so we settled down in front of the plain field to watch the first battle. It was between a man and a woman, both of them probably at least ten years older than me. Pokemon clearly wasn't just a young person's game. The man was using a ghost-type known as a duskull and the woman was using an electric-typed luxio.

"You know, I'm kind of regretting sending Haunter to the professor," I said. "A ghost type probably would've been useful here."

David shot me a look. "You did? That wasn't smart at all. Should've at least waited until after the tournament."

"You'll be fine," Dylan said, offering another viewpoint. "Haunter wasn't as strong as most of your other pokemon. It just had a different type."

Not long after the duskull had been victorious, David slipped away so he wouldn't be late for his match. Realizing that I didn't want to be late for mine or leave in the middle of a match, I left too. I was glad I did because it took me fifteen minutes to push my way to the grass and water field and another five to figure out exactly where I was supposed to be. After checking in and getting to my trainer's box, I watched some attendants tend to the field before the match was announced.

A woman named Lindsey was my opponent. She was maybe a couple years older than me with short cropped black hair. Her icy blue eyes looked like they were trying to steal my soul. When we were instructed to release our pokemon, she sent out something I had never seen before. It was kind of humanoid in general form but that was where the similarities ended. Yellow skinned except for the brown shoulder area, it had three claws on each hand and foot. Below it's sinister eyes, the face thinned and had a large mustache hanging. Above the eyes was a red star and then two pointed ears. A thick tail-like abdomen followed behind it. The pokemon waved a spoon at me and Grovyle that was somehow menacing.

"Kadabra versus Grovyle!" the referee announced. "Begin!"

"Kadabra, use psybeam!" Lindsey yelled.

"Dodge it and use quick attack!" I countered.

Taking off with blazing speed, Grovyle dodged the shimmering beam that came from the psychic pokemon's eyes. White streaks of speed trailed behind the running, almost flying, grass pokemon. Kadabra was slow to finish it's attack and Grovyle had it dead in it's sites until Lindsey shouted, "Teleport!"

There was a small flash of light and then suddenly Kadabra was gone. Grovyle dug it's claws in and slid to a stop. We had enough time to exchange surprised looks when Kadabra reappeared right behind Grovyle.

"Psycho cut!"

Kadabra swung it's spoon and a light blue half-moon raced out at Grovyle. It exploded against Grovyle's back, sending the pokemon flying. The grass pokemon must've been expecting something because it was quick to recover and get back to it's feet.

Lindsey was ready though. "Psycho cut again!"

"Leaf blade!"

The leaves on Grovyle's right arm fused into a glowing scythe and it swung at the incoming light blue energy. The two attacks exploded in a multicolored fireball. Grovyle burst through the explosion, now with the leaves on it's left arm forming a blade. Kadabra wasn't ready for the quick counterattack. The uppercut leaf blade took it clean off it's feet.

"Get up!" Lindsey shouted as her pokemon righted itself. "Use reflect!"

Kadabra began moving it's hands in front of it's body. I could see the protective shield forming, distorting the air just slightly. The psychic pokemon was now going to be affected far less by physical attacks.

Luckily, I had just the fix for that. "Grovyle, use energy ball!"

Pulling it's arms back, a glowing green orb grew out of thin air between Grovyle's claws. Moving the top claw away, the orb hovered above the other claw before the grass pokemon threw it side armed at Kadabra. It's reflective wall wasn't going to do squat against this.

"Teleport!" Lindsey shouted as Kadabra disappeared. The energy ball exploded harmlessly into the ground.

I swore and then realized I had used my curse too soon. Kadabra began rapidly teleporting all over the field. Grovyle was whipping it's head around trying to track the disappearing psychic pokemon. The only time it was visible for more than a handful of seconds was when it used psycho cut on Grovyle again. Kadabra continued to use teleport over and over. Which gave me an idea.

"Grovyle, use fury cutter! Just keep swinging at Kadabra!"

Grovyle's claws glowed with a greenish-white energy as they grew slightly. The grass pokemon began leaping and slashing at Kadabra every time it appeared, forcing Kadabra to teleport even faster. Grovyle was getting closer every time it swung. Suddenly both pokemon disappeared.

"What happened?" Lindsey and I shouted together.

Both pokemon reappeared together, Kadabra sprawling backwards. Grovyle had made contact at the last second and been teleported with Kadabra.

"Keep it up!" I yelled.

Grovyle dove at Kadabra, swiping with it's claws. With each successful strike, my pokemon's claws got bigger as the super-effective bug attack got stronger. Kadabra was swinging it's spoon about, trying in vain to defend itself.

"Now! Use leaf blade!" I pointed at Kadabra as it rose slightly.

Grovyle whirled around, slashing it's glowing blade across the chest of the psychic pokemon. Kadabra was thrown back and I could see it was gathering it's energy for a psybeam.

"Finish it with energy ball!"

Kadabra was sitting up at the energy ball exploded in it's face. I heard it cry out and then a thud that I assumed was it hitting the ground.

"Kadabra is unable to battle!" the referee declared. "Grovyle and trainer two are the winners!"

"Good work buddy," I said to my pokemon as it walked over. "That's how we want to break into the big leagues. I ever mention we make one heck of a team?"

Grovyle rolled it's eyes in response.

"Hey, come on! I should get a little credit at least!"

"Vyle," the pokemon consented with a shrug.

I sighed as I returned the pokemon to it's poke ball. I had a wiseass for a grass powerhouse. As soon as Grovyle was in the ball, I was ushered off the field by a couple of attendants. They were really serious about keeping the field in good shape. As far as I could tell, we really hadn't done any damage to it. Maybe a folded blade of grass or two.

Back in the mass of people I found a wall I could lean against and examine my match-up card. I had a good chunk of time before I had to be to the field of rock, water and grass. With that in mind I decided to wander around and try to find my friends. There was no way to find anyone in the giant swarm of humanity I soon discovered. Content with being alone for the time being, I showed my pass to get into the stands of the rock field.

A handful of battles and lunch later, the time was nearing for me to take the field again. While I waited my turn, I went over my pokemon choice. I didn't want lump all my powerhouse pokemon into the first few matches. There was the obvious risk of using one of my not as powerful pokemon and losing but they had to be entered at some point. With that in mind, I decided to go with Mudkip. It had been quite effective in my last battle before the tournament.

Before I knew it, I was being ushered into the trainer's box. With time to spare because my opponent hadn't arrived yet, I glanced around for the cameras. I could only find two elevated at each end behind each trainer and one on each side of the long sides of the field but I knew there had to be more somewhere. My search was cut short by the arrival of a rather short, dark-skinned male probably about my size in the opposite trainer's box. His name was announced as Ahmed after mine was announced.

"Here we go!" I said, taking a step back to throw my poke ball. "Mudkip!"

"Growlithe!" Ahmed shouted at the same instant.

I smiled as I looked a the furry orange and black pokemon. The fiery canine stood on four legs and growled at my mudkip. It pawed at the ground in obvious determination. It wasn't showing any fear of it's obvious type disadvantage. That could work out well for me. Or go horribly wrong.

"Growlithe, use fire fang!"

"Water gun!"

The fire dog leapt, it's mouth full of flames. It never even got close as Mudkip gunned it down with a spire of water. Growlithe managed to roll off the blast before it could take too much damage and came charging again. I had to admire it's determination if nothing else.

"Let's see if this slows it down," I said mostly to myself. "Ice beam!"

Normally an ice attack wouldn't be effective against a fire pokemon. This one didn't cause much damage either but it did form a solid chunk of ice on Growlithe's front left paw. It lost all traction and the fire pokemon stumbled right into a rocky pillar with a yelp of surprise. I lost site of it for a moment and I worried that it had gone underground or something. Then I saw it struggling to get back up on three good legs and one icy one. I was a little surprised how quickly it had gotten back up.

"Shut it down!" I yelled. "Water gun!"

Growlithe had just gotten back to it's unstable feet when the big blast of water, significantly larger than Mudkip's usual water guns, slammed into it. The growlithe was lifted into the air and slammed into another outcropping of rocks. It fell with abrupt stillness. Pebbles from the rock formation rolled down and bounced off of the fire pokemon. There was no movement from the pokemon itself.

"Growlithe is unable to battle," the ref announced. "Victory to Mudkip and trainer one!"

I whistled softly. Somewhere in that battle I had gotten lucky. There was no way Mudkip should've beaten Growlithe that easily, even with a type advantage. The water pokemon was possibly the weakest of the pokemon in my usual six. Still though, a win was a win.

Possibly spurned by my thoughts, Mudkip erupted into light. It rose up onto it's hind legs and began to grown in all directions. When the light faded, I noticed three main differences: it's head was now much wider, it had two tail fins and it's arms were now long and thick. It's skin was also slightly lighter in color as well.

"Well played Marshtomp," I said with a laugh.

I collected my newly evolved pokemon and headed for he exit. I was almost there when I heard someone calling my name. Looking around I finally saw David pushing his was to the front of the stands reserved for trainers.

Despite the shouts to do otherwise, he walked right into a secure zone. Big burly security workers tried to stop him but he just ignored them and kept right on walking to the metal railing that served as a barrier. He flung one leg over the barrier and then the other and dropped a few inches to come join me. I raised an eyebrow and offered a smirk at his disregard for the authorities. He just shrugged.

"Nice work there," he commented as we started walking. "You took care of him pretty easily. I almost missed the whole thing."

"I got lucky," I said. "I got a favorable match up and Mudkip, er Marshtomp, was about to evolve. I think it had got some kind of power boost from the evolutionary juices getting going. That last water gun was way bigger than any of the usual ones and I don't think it had activated it's special ability."

"I won't argue with that," David replied as we emerged into the main mass of people. "I saw that guy battle earlier. He's good. You did get lucky with a type advantage but hey, that's half the game."

"I take it you're still alive?"

He nodded. "Would I be in this good of a mood if I wasn't?"

I laughed. "No, I suppose no." Then I paused for a moment. "Does this tournament strike you as easy so far? I mean, I've swept through my first two matches now. Sure the first was a little tricky but I won pretty easily."

David fixed me with an icy blue eye and somehow managed to still see where he was going. "Don't get carried away. You got a favorable type match up this time but luck won't always be on your side. Eventually you'll find yourself in the same hole that guy was just in."

"So you don't think we can win?" That kind of skepticism didn't sound like David. He usually wasn't that much of a downer.

David gave a harsh laugh. "I didn't say that. I just think that it's going to get more difficult at some point. Probably pretty quick too."


	31. Chapter 31

David confessed to being hungry and suddenly those pastries from the motel seemed like a very long time ago. Checking my phone for the time, I realized it had been quite a while. With all the vendors scattered about we had our choice of just about anything we wanted. Eventually we settled on a hot dog vendor. With hot dog, giant pretzel, and drink in hand we found a small unoccupied picnic table to eat at.

"So you ever going to tell us what pokemon you caught while we were apart?" David asked. "Or are you just going to make me wait until the next time we battle?"

"Waiting is fun," I said, licking salt from my fingers, "but I guess I can tell you. You saw Haunter and I'm pretty sure I mentioned Butterfree, right?"

He paused as he thought. "Yes and maybe but you did now. There's more?"

"Sure is," I said with a nod. "I caught a nincada that I doubt I'll use, well not any time soon anyway. My sandshrew that Dani gave me evolved while it was..." I trailed off as I got an idea. "When's your next match?"

Surprised, it took David a moment to dig out his time sheet. He took a bite of hot dog and held the card out to me, his thumb underlining his time. It was twenty minutes before my next match.

"Sucks," I grunted. "I was going to say you should come and see but you might not make it."

"So tell me now."

"Eh, why not?" And I told David the story of how I had met the onix and how it had eventually become a steelix.

He laughed. "And you were making fun of Vanessa and her lapras? Your story is easily just as storybook or happy cartoon episode as her's!"

I waved a dismissive gesture at him. "Please. Very different."

"Oh really?" He put an elbow on our table and rested his chin oon his fist. "Do tell."

"It's simple," I said and then took a sip of my drink. "Her story ends with them being friends. My story was supposed to end with Steelix getting vengeance. Way different."

He considered this for a moment then gave a short laugh. "Yeah, I guess you're right. That'd be a messed up cartoon show."

"Told you. Now how about you? I know about Lenny and I think you said Steve evolved?"

"Yup. So did Slappy and Thunder."

"Slappy was a..." my voice trailed off and my head tilted to the side as I tried to recall the pokemon. "Oh yeah, a magikarp! So now you and Dylan can have dueling gyarados. Who's Thunder?"

"My pichu, well, pikachu now."

I arched an eyebrow. "You named your pikachu Thunder?"

"Yeah," David replied with a goofy grin. "When it learns to use Thunder, I can yell 'Thunder use thunder!'"

"That's... special. Although I'm a little jealous I didn't think of it first." A thought came to me. "Duke and Al didn't evolve yet? You've had them way longer."

"Al is ready to," David confirmed, "but isn't going to until after the tournament."

"Why not?" David's logic didn't make sense at all to me.

"Would you ever expect a zubat to be a powerhouse?"

I considered the question carefully. "Ha, yeah but that's only because I know you. Everyone else would assume that if it were strong, it would've evolved."

David gave me a sly grin. "Exactly."

"You're tricky. I'm glad we're friends so I'm less likely to get taken by surprise with things like this. What about Duke?"

"I'm not sure why Duke hasn't evolved yet," David said after a pause. "He's been in plenty of battles. Maybe just doesn't feel like it yet."

I gave a slow shake of my head. "It still weirds me out how in tune you are with your pokemon's evolutions."

He offered a shrug for a reply. "Probably something to do with the limited number I use and how I train them."

We ended up staying at our picnic table for a long time. A couple groups of people gave us dirty looks for not vacating for people with food but we just ignored them. Vanessa or Dylan never emerged from the crowd, leaving David and me to our talking. We continued to talk about pokemon, training and just life in general. A consensus was reached that because most of our pokemon had evolved at least once, including some that evolve from happiness, that not only were doing something right, but we were doing it well. We remained at the table until David had to leave for his match so I departed as well.

I was early to the plain battlefield so I slid into the reserved section of the stands to watch the ongoing battle. Approaching the time limit was a knockdown, drag-out war between a fiery combusken and an elegant gallade. Both part fighting-type, they were trading vicious blows. A buzzer sounded, declaring that the time limit had been reached. The referee met with a panel of judged and I heard him declare the gallade and it's trainer victorious as I slipped out of the stands and headed for the trainers' entrance to the field.

I was given admittance and stepped into my designated area. The tournament workers were working to replace chunks that had been torn from the field in the last battle. I immediately felt a pang of guilt. I had already decided to use Steelix and the odds of it _not_ doing damage to the field were pretty slim. They had to know that eventually the field would be wrecked by something like my upcoming pokemon.

When the repair time had passed, I looked up to see that the opposing trainer's box had been filled. In it stood a man that probably was old enough to be my father. His black hair was graying at the temples and he had a bit of a belly. It was pretty clear that if he was taking the League Challenge, it wasn't on foot.

"The next match is Charles versus Tim," an unseen voice announced. "Begin!"

Once I released Steelix onto the field, I had to get it to move to one side so I could see Charles' pokemon. It was yellow and stood on four round legs with a stubby tail. A ring of leaves surrounded it's elongated neck and a notched leaf swung around on it's forehead. It took me a moment but I recognized it as a bayleef.

There was a pause, a calm before the storm if you will, as we both considered our strategy. I knew that a grass-type was almost always unable to use most fire- or water- typed moves which were two of Steelix's four weaknesses. The bayleef might be able to use a ground attack, or possible even a fighting one but it was a risk I was willing to take.

"Steelix, iron tail!"

"Dodge it Bayleef!" Charles responded in a husky voice.

With more speed that I would've expected, Bayleef jumped and rolled away from the slamming tail. Chunks of the battlefield rained down on it but none were large enough to cause damage. Much smaller and possibly much faster, I couldn't decided if Bayleef had the advantage or not.

Charles pointed a chubby finger to the sky. "Sunny day!"

At first I found it strange that he was commenting on the weather at the moment but then I saw his pokemon move. A bright white orb formed in front of Bayleef's mouth. It arced it's neck back and the orb burst into a beam that shot high into the sky where it disappeared. Almost immediately I could feel the temperature increase. The sun seemed to suddenly be much closer than before.

"So it's sunny now, big deal!" I called. "Crush it with iron tail!"

"Solar beam!"

I learned something just then. I had always though solar beam needed to charge up. Apparently with a blazing sun, it didn't. A huge white beam blasted our of Bayleef's mouth and exploded against Steelix's glowing tail. The steel pokemon was actually thrown back by the power of the attack.

Seeing the television cameras around the field, I made sure to mutter my curses under my breath.

"Another solar beam Bayleef!" Charles roared. "We've got them on the defensive!"

"Defensive this!" I retorted, pointing a finger directly down in what I hoped was a dramatic pose. "Dig Steelix!"

Steelix writhed and twisted and disappeared into the ground just moments before the solar beam detonated where the pokemon had been. Bayleef began jumping from side to side, moving in a circle, trying to not be wherever my steelix was planning to emerge. I licked my lips as I watched and tried to make my battle plan. My straightforward strategy wasn't going to cut it here. A plan slowly began to form in my mind.

"Strike now Steelix!" I commanded.

Steelix exploded out of the ground like a big steel rocket. Bayleef was in the process of jumping to the side so it was spared the brunt of the impace. It's yellow body was still sent flying though. Moving fluidly, Steelix swirled around at my hand signal and curved it's body in front of me to wait.

Bayleef got to it's feet and looked to it's trainer. Charles clearly wasn't sure what I was up to but decided he had to press his perceived advantage. "Solar beam!"

Just like I had hoped. "Block it with rock tomb!"

Steelix slammed it's tail into the ground. The impact caused a pillar of rock to erupt from the ground right in the path of the solar beam. The grass-type attacked detonated against the rock, completely obliterating it but leaving my pokemon unscathed.

"Ice fang!" I roared.

Two light blue lightning bolts jetted out from Steelix's mouth. They swept Bayleef off it's feet and crushed it into the ground. To my surprise and a credit to Charles' skill as a trainer, Bayleef rose back to it's feet in short order. I tried not to let my worry reach the surface. Secretly, I had been hoping that the super-effective attack would take the grass pokemon down in one strike.

"Nice try but not good enough," Charles called to me. "Bayleef, synthesis!"

The leaves around Bayleef's neck and the one on it's head glowed yellow and sparkles filled the air around it. I knew immediately that this was not good; Bayleef was regaining strength. Something told me that the still blazing sun might even be contributing too.

"Strike hard and fast before it's done Steelix!" I yelled. "Iron tail!"

The end of Steelix glowed the familiar white and it whipped it's body around to slam it down at Bayleef. The glow faded from the grass pokemon but it remained still for just a heartbeat. A heartbeat was too long for a recovery. Steelix drove the iron tail down with amazing force, sending shattered pieces of the field everywhere.

"Oh come on!" I exclaimed as Bayleef somehow extracted itself from the hole in the ground. "Iron tail!"

"Solar beam!"

The force of the grass powered beam was too much for Steelix and it detonated against it's hardened body. My pokemon let out a deep roar as it teetered back and crashed to the ground. It's eyes had gone hazy as it looked around and it dawned on me just how strong this Bayleef might be as I realized Steelix may be down for good. Then the steel pokemon's eyes found me. They snapped back into focus with amazing intensity. In one single, smooth ripple of it's back it brought it's head all the way back up without taking it's eyes from me. Suddenly it snapped it's head back at Bayleef and let out a deafening roar to announce to all that it just plain out refused to lose.

"I hear you Steelix!" I roared along with it. "Here we go-" I broke off in mid-sentence. Something had changed.

It took a moment before it dawned on me: I was no longer uncomfortably warm. Sparing a second to glance at the sky, the sun had clearly dimmed. Sunny day had run it's course. We were now back to normal day.

Bayleef's advantage was gone.

"Solar beam!" Charles yelled. "And hurry!" The leaves on his pokemon began to glow white as they took in the sun's energy.

"Oh no you don't! Ice fang!"

The two jagged bolts of blue ripped through Bayleef again, tossing it across the field. The glow of it's leaves faded slightly for a moment but then continued to build in their brilliance. The grass pokemon rolled through it's crash landing and came up on it's feet, concentrating hard to hold onto it's energy.

"Now!" Charles shouted.

"Iron tail!"

Glowing white beam met glowing white tail. For a moment they were at a standstill. Steelix trembled with exertion as it slowly began to force the beam back. Bayleef and it's trainer's eyes grew huge. The decent of Steelix's attack slowly picked up as Bayleef's solar strength began to fade. In the blink of an eye, the beam was gone and Steelix had crushed the grass pokemon again.

The ref made no declaration so I declared, "Rock tomb!"

A platform of rock pounded up from the ground, bouncing Bayleef like a rag doll. It landed hard on the new landmass but still somehow regained it's feet. I could hardly believe it.

"Razor leaf!" Charles ordered.

"Ice fang!" I countered.

In it's weakened state, Bayleef couldn't generate a powerful enough cloud of leaves to do anything. Many sliced across Steelix but the bulk was cut down by the blast of icy energy. It carried the grass pokemon off the rock and slammed it into the ground. For a moment I lost sight of it, all I could see was Steelix quivering with exhaustion.

"Bayleef is unable to battle!" the ref finally made his declaration. "Steelix and trainer two are victorious!"

I breathed a deep sigh of relief and heard my pokemon do the same. David had been right about things getting harder and I realized how easy I had gotten off in my first two matches.

Deep down, I was glad it had gotten more difficult. I had signed up for this tournament for a challenge. I had no desire to waltz through the whole thing untested. It wouldn't have taught me anything new nor would I have grown as a trainer. That would've made the whole thing rather pointless. If I wanted to just beat up on other trainers, I could've easily just stayed at home and done that.

I caught the field workers fixing me with dirty looks so I collected Steelix and made a hasty retreat. The extra sun had made me sweat excessively and I was beginning to feel dehydrated. Picking the nearest vendor, I bought some water and settled down on a bench to wait for my next match. The crowd was beginning to thin out a bit. Presumably defeated trainers had mostly left as had anyone who was only there to see a particular trainer.

I sat by myself this time, not finding any of my friends nor them finding me. I wasn't completely alone though. A few random people stopped and wished me luck, having seen my previous battles and apparently having been impressed. One guy told me I was a chump and didn't deserve to still be in the tournament. I told him that I was clearly favored by the pokemon gods. He didn't like that one bit but left me alone.

The time alone gave me ample opportunity to ponder my next pokemon choice. Of the original six I entered, I still had Charmeleon, Heracross and Pikachu left. I could never go wrong with the first two but Pikachu was a bit of a wild card. The electric mouse hadn't been in an actual battle since I got trounced by Isamu at the poison gym. Sure it had trained with the rest of my pokemon in New York but that's a lot different than actual battle experience.

By the time I reached the rock battlefield, I had decided that Pikachu was my pokemon for this round. Looking across the field at a red-haired woman that strangely wore a business suit, I could only hope I made the right decision. Even from all the way across the field, her beautiful yet intense green eyes bored a hole right through me. She was a pretty lady, but at the same time a bit intimidating.

"This match is between Naomi and Tim!" an unseen voice declared.

"Pikachu, let's go!" I called, throwing the poke ball side armed.

"Houndour, prepare yourself!" Naomi called in a sing-song voice as she underhand lobbed the ball onto the field.

Houndour was a menacing pokemon, much like it's evolution that I was more familiar with. It's black fur made the skull design on the top of it's head really stick out, the same going for the rib-like designs on it's back. Sharp teeth filled a mouth that sat below a pair of beady eyes. It was shorter and stubbier instead of long and sleek like it's evolution, houndoom, that I had met before.

"Let's get it started!" I called. "Thunderbolt!"

"Flamethrower!" was Naomi's response.

The bolt of lightning smashed into the pillar of fire. The two elements roiling together formed an ever growing ball of yellow and orange energy. Quickly the energy became uncontainable and exploded. The sheer force of the blast caused me to take a step back and throw up an arm to shield my eyes from debris. Just underneath my forearm I could see Pikachu and Houndour clinging to the ground with all their might to resist being blown away.

"That was intense!" I said as I lowered my arm. "Let's change it up a little. Quick attack!"

As Pikachu weaved through the rocks towards her pokemon, Naomi called, "Dodge and then fire fang!"

I had always been under the impression that a houndour was not all that mobile. Apparently Naomi had trained hers to be. It fell back on it's haunches and leapt over the streaking pikachu. Pikachu looked up in surprise as Houndour's mouth filled with fire as the dark- and fire-type pokemon twisted around to bite down. The electric pokemon let loose with an extra burst of speed and got well clear of immediate danger.

"Don't let up!" Naomi shouted. "Continue with fire fang!"

"You want to get close? Alright then, Pikachu use iron tail!"

Flames leaked from between Houndour's teeth and Pikachu's tail glowed white as they charged one another. Houndour struck first, snapping out. Pikachu jumped over the bite and spun in the air to bring it's tail down. Houndour rolled to the side and the iron tail smashed into the ground. Trying fire fang again, Houndour had to leap backwards as Pikachu ducked and swung another iron tail at the larger pokemon's legs. Pikachu tried to press it's advantage but dove away as a fire fang missed it by inches. The fire power finally detonated and sent both pokemon skittering away.

"Hurry Pikachu!" I yelled. "Thunderbolt!"

The houndour had only been encased in the electric storm when it's trainer shouted, "Flamethrower!"

The flamethrower intercepted the thunderbolt and slowly pushed it back. The two attacks began to fuse into the energy orb again which quickly detonated. Both pokemon were backed up several paces by the force of the explosion. Pikachu cackled in amusement, reminding me of how much the pokemon enjoyed battling.

As we both took a moment to regroup and rethink our strategies, I suddenly became aware of everything else in the world. The crowd was cheering wildly but for me or Naomi or just in general, I had no idea. My phone vibrated in my pocket. Then it did it again. Then again and again. I was being besieged by text messages. The only assumption I could draw from that was that I was currently on TV.

They want a show? I'll give them a show.

As soon as I figure out a new strategy anyway.

Naomi struck first. "Shadow ball!"

The black ball of ghostly energy formed and then fired from Houndour's mouth. Pikachu dove to the side, narrowly escaping the blast. As it rolled to it's feet it had to dive the opposite way to avoid another shadow ball.

"Let's make this a little easier," I called to my pokemon. "Agility!"

Pikachu took off like a shot, leaving a third shadow ball explosion in it's wake. The electric pokemon was moving with such speed as it strafed side to side in it's approach that it almost seemed to be teleporting. Houndour launched another shadow ball but Pikachu was gone before Houndour could even launch the attack.

"Keep going!" I shouted, a plan forming on the fly. "Use thunderbolt!"

It's blazing speed made it easy for Pikachu to avoid attacks but it also made it hard for it to aim attacks of it's own. The first thunderbolt missed by a good few feet, doing nothing more than showering Houndour with tiny chunks of debris. However the second thunderbolt was a better shot. It caught Houndour in the left flank and knocked it off it's feet. Still moving, Pikachu had issues keeping it's aim and the fire pokemon was freed from the electric attack.

"Quick attack!" I yelled, hoping to keep the momentum on my side.

The way Pikachu struck Houndour and kept going at a slightly different angle reminded me of a stone skipping across the surface of a lake. That pleasant image was shattered when Houndour rebounded quickly and scored a direct hit with it's flamethrower. Pikachu burst free from the river of fire no longer looking amused.

In my mind, a plan was coming together. It was a bit unorthodox but it was worth a shot. "Pikachu, use iron tail on that pillar!"

Despite the odd command, the pokemon didn't even hesitate. It swung around and slashed it's glowing tail at the pillar of rock I was pointing at. The geological formation exploded into a shower of all-sized rock shards.

"Now use thunderbolt!" I followed up, before the rocks could fall. "Right through the center!"

"Pi-ka-chu!" the pokemon roared as it exploded into a thunderstorm. The main current of the thunderbolt ripped right through cloud of rocks, pushing the largest of the rock shards ahead of it. Smaller shards were drawn in and taken along for the ride as well.

"Flamethrower!" Naomi countered.

It worked just like I had planned and hoped for: the big rock detonated the flamethrower allowing the thunderbolt to streak past unmolested. It slammed into Houndour, immobilizing it as the smaller rock pieces crashed into it. One of the largest rock chunks finally found it's way down the lightning bolt and shattered against the houndour's head. It crumpled to the ground.

As the referee was declaring Houndour defeated, I turned to find a microphone in my face. I jerked back in surprise as a cameraman was there as well flicked on his camera light. The woman holding the microphone was probably in her thirties with long blonde hair and dressed professionally in a business suit.

"That was quite a match." Her tone was soft and smooth. Everything a reporter's should be. "Mind if we ask you a few questions?"

"Um, sure," I said, fumbling over the words.

She turned to the camera to introduced herself and then me. I was surprised that she already had my name memorized. After a few more lines she turned to me. "So tell us about this battle."

Before I could respond, I felt something climbing my back and suddenly there was a weight on my right shoulder. I turned my head into soft yellow fur. Pikachu stood on my shoulder, jabbering wildly and making hand motions. When it's voice dipped low and it made a rasping noise, I realized it was impersonating Houndour and retelling the battled. It swatted it's tail around once and then flexed like a weight-lifter. The pokemon then sprang from my shoulder to go flex for the crowd who ate it up.

I slowly turned back to the reporter and gave her a goofy grin. "Couldn't have said it better myself."

To her credit, she just laughed and kept going. "That was quite the strategy you used at the end. How did you know that would work?"

"I didn't."

Now she fixed me with a skeptical eye that I'm pretty sure the camera couldn't see. "You had no idea that would work?"

I shrugged. "It-well... I ...that's how I hoped it would work." I really hoped that I wasn't coming off like an idiot. "I kind of made it up on the fly. Honestly, it worked way better than I could've hoped."

"Wait, you came up with that on the spot?"

"Yes ma'am."

There was a split-second hesitation as the reporter adjusted her line of questioning. "That must have taken an awful lot of faith in your pikachu to accomplish that. Tell me about that."

"It wasn't so much that I had faith in Pikachu, it was that Pikachu had faith in me. If it had even hesitated a moment to question my plan, it wouldn't have worked." Now I was pretty sure I wasn't looking like an idiot. "I try to build up a high level of trust with not just Pikachu, but all my pokemon. This wasn't the first time I've had to come up with an off the wall tactic to save my skin and I know it won't be the last."

She smiled. "So you're a little unorthodox, is that a good way to describe your style?"

I bit my lip and lifted my eyes for a moment. "Not necessarily. I do what I have to win. If I need to think outside the box, I can."

"Well you might not be unorthodox, but your pikachu certainly is." I recalled the still posing pikachu while the reporter said a few things to the camera and signed off. "You did pretty well there kid. Not everyone is that smooth in their first interview. You only fumbled over a few words."

"I'll try to be better next time," I said as she shook my hand and left.

I spent the next long while returning text messages and then replying to the replies that I got. It took far longer than I had expected. I had assumed that once Dylan and I had left town we would be forgotten. I was wrong. Judging from the amount of texts I had gotten, a fair number of people had been watching the tournament and the last televised match happened to be mine. Best of all, I got a text from Jen. It was nothing more than a smiley face but it was all I needed.

I was so engrossed in my phone that I didn't realize Dylan had sat down next to me until he said, "I saw the guy you're facing next battle before."

My head shot up and I jumped. "Where did you come from?"

"The plain field," he replied, answering my question in a different light. "I saw your next opponent a few hours ago though."

I set down my phone. "And?"

Dylan shrugged. "Looked pretty competent but then again, everyone here is. His last battle he used a buizel. I talked with some other people and they thought he might still have a fire pokemon left. Help you at all?"

"Actually yeah," I said. "My two remaining pokemon are Charmeleon and Heracross. Kind of makes the choice easier now. Oh hey, I was on TV!"

All I got was a nod in reply. Dylan was now checking his text messages too. "I know. According to this, so was I. I guess Gyarados versus Zangoose made for good ratings."

I was a little annoyed to say the least that he had stolen my thunder. "Yeah, well, they interviewed me too."

Now he looked up. "Seriously?"

After recanting the battle I had just won, we went and found something for dinner. Dylan got a bratwurst and I settled on a walking taco. We traded tidbits of what we had learned so far while we ate, secretly just biding our time until our next matches. At one point we were pretty sure we saw Vanessa but she didn't respond when we tried to flag her down.

Soon we both had to depart for our matches. The crowd had thinned a bit by now. Whether it had to do with it being near dinner time or the fact that so many trainers had been eliminated, I didn't know but it was much easier to get to the field this time.

The plain field was surprisingly empty. There were no battling trainers and very few people in the stands. I asked the worker there about it and she said the last match had been incredibly short and one-sided. A machoke had apparently made very short work of a geodude.

My first thought was that I hoped people came back to watch my match. I wouldn't want to be on TV with empty stands behind me. Quickly, I squashed that line of thinking. I wasn't here trying to gain fame and popularity. A little voice at the back of my mind said that neither could hurt. I mentally told the voice to shut up. Winning the Pokemon League was my goal. If I wanted fame, I could have it then. Anything right now would just be a distraction. Despite this mindset, I couldn't help but feel pleased when the stands began to fill back up.

The opposing trainer showed up a few minutes before the match which was surprising. Usually trainers were much earlier than just a few minutes. He had a lackadaisical look about him which instantly annoyed me. He appeared to be bored with the whole tournament which I found insulting. The way he tried to flip his hair out of his face with a flick of his head made me think he was probably some spoiled kid who thought he was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Well, I was a big fan of sliced bread.

The obnoxious guy was announced to have the name of Chance which I also found obnoxious. His pokemon though was not obnoxious. It was a big, ugly brown bird with a long neck and a beak that looked rather sharp. Fearrows were even uglier in person, I decided.

"Charmeleon, slash!" I called with a wave of my hand towards the field. White claws began to glow and extend.

"Hyper beam," Chance sighed.

Fearrow opened it's long beak and a big yellow beam blasted out. Charmeleon dug it's claws into the ground as breaks and flung itself out of the beam's path. The yellow energy exploded not far behind my pokemon, tossing it across the field like a rag doll.

When the explosion cleared I could see Fearrow was still standing on the ground. At first I was confused but as I remember that using hyper beam meant having to stop to recharge I yelled, "Flamethrower!"

Fearrow was still immobilized as the fire engulfed it's body. I quickly lost sight of it completely and I could only hope that I had somehow one-hit KO-ed the pokemon. Something broke out of the flamethrower, trailing fire towards the sky. My breath caught in my thought as the rising fearrow reminded me of an artists' rendering of the legendary bird Moltres.

"Aerial ace," Chance called, some of the bored-ness had left his voice.

The flying pokemon swirled around in the sky, the trailing flames being replaced with white streaming energy. With a swiftness that I didn't expect from such an ugly pokemon, it went into a steep dive at my pokemon.

"Charmeleon, use dragon rage!" I was well aware of how to defend this particular tactic.

Or I would've been if it had been what I was expecting. The second the yellow orb blasted out of Charmeleon's mouth the white energy from aerial ace vanished. Fearrow made a slight course correction and the dragon rage raced down over it's back, missing by mere inches.

"Mirror shot!" From the energy in Chance's voice, I had a feeling I'd just been suckered. Fearrow opened it's long beak and a reflective orb formed near the end. The orb shimmered for a split-second before flattening itself out into a circle. Then a yellow ball with sparks crackling around it burst out of it. It was dragon rage.

"Move!"

Charmeleon was a step slow. The dragon-type attack didn't hit the fire pokemon full on but the explosion sent it somersaulting through the air. Charmeleon landed hard on it's back and made a pained noise. I made an inquiry to the pokemon's health and a reply of a small spout of flames told me we were still in the fight.

"Ok, let's try something different," I said as Fearrow soared back into the sky for another aerial ace. "Fire fang!"

Spreading it's feet out to form a solid base, Charmeleon readied itself for the incoming fearrow. As the flying pokemon drew closer flames began to flicker from deep within my pokemon's mouth. Fearrow it's course ever so slightly to drive it's shoulder into Charmeleon instead of it's head. Driven back by the impact, Charmeleon bit down. The two pokemon disappeared into a swirling fireball of orange and white.

"Slash!" I shouted and two white streaks were visibile through the roiling fireball.

"Mirror shot!" Chance countered and two more streaks came into and faded from existence.

Suddenly, mirror shot made a lot more sense to me. If I had it figured right, mirror shot would use the last attack that I had just used against me. I was very grateful that I had never taught Charmeleon any rock or ground moves for a moment. With this new information in my hands I had to quickly form a new strategy.

"Charmeleon, use flamethrower!"

Fearrow emerged from the dissipating explosion riding a jet of fire. The bird pokemon screamed until it managed to roll away from the attack. It's brown feathers now had a nice helping of black char coating them.

Everyone could see the wheels turning in Chance's head, maybe even for the first time. If he didn't score a direct hit with hyper beam, his pokemon would be left exposed. Aerial ace left Fearrow exposed during it's approach. Mirror shot would now use a fire attack which would be next to useless against my fire-typed pokemon. I didn't know what it's final attack was but it also must not have been useful in the current situation because Chance didn't call for it.

"Hyper beam!"

This time Charmeleon was ready as I yelled for it to dodge. The second the first syllable was out of Chance's mouth, the fire pokemon was on the move. Charging forward in a serpentine pattern Charmeleon managed to throw off Fearrow's aim. The shock wave of the ensuing explosion still lifted my pokemon off it's feet but it rode the momentum and landed on it's feet.

"Hit while it can't move!" I shouted, pointing at Fearrow. "Flamethrower!"

Whirling it's head around, Charmeleon unleashed hell. Immobilized from using hyper beam Fearrow took the attack full on. The force of the fire slammed it into a wall and then I lost sight of the pokemon. When I signaled Charmeleon to let up, Fearrow wasn't moving. I was declared the winner and advanced to the next round.

I had time to burn before my next match, although not nearly as much as before, so I went to one of the other fields to watch an ongoing match. When I arrived to the rock field, Dylan of all people was currently battling. He and Croagunk were taking on a breloom, a grass- and fighting-type. Dylan seemed to have the upper hand as the two fighters slugged it out.

As much as I wanted to watch the match, I spent a fair amount of time talking with some other trainers that were in the stands. When a pair of them had realized that I actually knew Dylan, they struck up a conversation. The girl had travelled up from Georgia and the guy from Alabama. They didn't have heavy accents or really any accent at all which I found strange.

"Well if you guys are going south, you should watch for this path," the guy said after I told him we were thinking of going to the grass gym next. "It's a fairly newer path so it doesn't show up on any of the maps yet but there's been enough foot traffic that you'll see it pretty easily. It looks like it's taking you out west but it's actually just veering from the coastline. It's almost a straight shot right down to the Everglades and the gym."

"Really?" I said, only half paying attention. "I'll have to remember that. Cuts a lot of time off the trip?"

"Oh for sure," the girl said, playing with her long red hair. "It, like, saves probably half a day if not more. Lotta pokemon along the way too. Not common ones either cuz, like, not as many people have been there."

I made a point to file that away in my mind and said as much.

"Cool," the girl said as she stood and mussed the guys weird silvery-blue hair that had to have been dyed. "Come on James, let's go get some food."

"Sure thing Jessie." He tossed me a wave as they left. "Good meeting you."

With them gone, I was able to fully focus on the match. Croagunk dropped to a knee to avoid a head butt and then drove a poison jab straight up. Breloom never saw it coming. Traveling in a high backwards arc, the grass pokemon crashed to the ground. I got up to leave as Croagunk was declared the winner. Dylan caught my eye and I gave him a nod of recognition.

The crowd had really started to thin out now. Despite that there was still several matches to go, I had to guess that around a third of the initial people had left. Now when I strolled around the grounds, I could really observe things. Like the merchandise vendor who was closing up shop now that he had sold almost all his wares. Or the street performer that I hadn't noticed earlier that was having people guess what pokemon he was impersonating. He was actually pretty good.

I actually had little time left before my match so I began heading for the grass and water field. If I was reading my schedule right, I was going to be starting off the last hour of battles. Each field would have three battles in the next hour before the tournament ended for the day. It'd begin bright and early tomorrow to crown a champion, hopefully me.

After checking in with the attendant, I stepped into the outlined trainer's box. I made note of the locations of the bodies of water and filed them away to use later. My eyes drifted to the opposing trainer's box where I saw a trainer that looked familiar. My mind hesitated a second and then it clicked that I did know him: it was Jake. He gave me a wave of recognition. I returned it with a dip of my head. We both knew the score: I had beaten him on Trainers' Pass and now he had a shot at redemption. I was all for redemption just as long as it wasn't against me.

While the ref was doing some announcing of rules and such, I tried to remember what I knew about Jake. It had been a couple months since my victory on Trainers' Pass and quite honestly, I had never expected to see him again so I didn't press the details of our battle into my memory. Despite that, I did remember that I had used Heracross against him, the very pokemon who's pokeball was currently in my hand. I dug around a bit in my memory and came up with that he used a grotle and a vigoroth and one other pokemon. I could think of no other useful details.

When Jake's pokemon appeared on the field, I realized me memory of his pokemon meant nothing. His pokemon looked like a walking island. Four brown stumpy legs carried a green round body that litteraly had it's own terrain. There was a tree and some bushes and grass growing, complimented by a trio of sharp looking rocks. A big head with sharp spikes on the cheeks and a nasty looking beak rode low on the front of it's body. Jake's grotle had evolved into a torterra.

When I released Heracross onto the field, Torterra's eyes flared and it roared, "Torte-rra!"

Recognition dawned across Heracross' yellow eyes and it replied with, "Hera! Hera-cross!"

"Earthquake!" Jake yelled now that formalities were out of the way.

Torterra reared up on to it's hind legs and them slammed down it's front. The entire field began to tremble. I could see water splashing around as the tremble became a tremor and then evolved into a full blown quake. Heracross dropped to a knee in pain as energy pulsed out from Torterra and began ripping apart the whole field.

"Get into the air!" I yelled as I struggled mightily to keep my balance. "Use aerial ace!"

It took Heracross a moment to get itself oriented. The shaking ground had it tumbling all over, often with it's back to close to the ground to open it's carapace to reveal it's wings. Finally the bug pokemon launched into the air and white energy began trailing from it's horn. Once Heracross reached a certain altitude, it went into a steep dive. Torterra was a big pokemon and not especially nimble so it didn't have much choice but to brace itself. Heracross made impact and both pokemon disappeared in an explosion until Heracross shot back out.

"Leaf storm!" Jake yelled. "Above you to your right Torterra!"

Above the fading explosion, I could see the top of Torterra's tree begin to glow. Suddenly it erupted in a straight sheet of glowing green leaves. Heracross crossed it's arms over it's body to defend but the leaves tore right through my pokemon and sent it into an out of control downward spiral.

"Come on Heracross!" I cupped my hands around my mouth as I shouted. "Use night slash!"

I could hear my pokemon grunt in concentration as it gained control of it's decent and began looping around the field. It's left claw glowed purple as it approached Torterra head on.

"Crunch!"

Torterra opened it's jagged beak up just in time to clamp back down on Heracross' arm. The bug pokemon screeched in pain as sparks of dark energy crackled across it's body. Heracross tried to pull free but Torterra had an iron grip.

"Ok, we make them pay them," I said, flashing back to a very early battle where I was in a similar situation. "Horn attack!"

"Heracross!" The pokemon bellowed as it slammed it's horn down onto Torterra's skull. "Hera-cross!" Heracross swept it's horn to the side and drove the points of it into the side of the big grass pokemon's head. The second blow was what forced Torterra to let go when it roared in pain.

"Earthquake!" Jake shouted and Torterra reared up onto it's hind legs.

"Get into the the air!"

"Leaf storm!"

Torterra slammed down but instead of creating rippling ground quakes it had a glowing tree. The glowing leaves burst forth again. Instead of a straight sheet like last time, they zeroed in on Heracross in a spiral.

"Dodge it Heracross!" I yelled. "Try to get up close! It might not be able to get you there!"

Dancing through the spiral of grass-energy, Heracross suddenly lurched forward. Taking advantage of the style of the attack the bug pokemon flew straight down the center of it. Finding a gap, the bug pokemon darted out of the range of the storm and continued to close in on Torterra.

I pointed at our opponent as Heracross came around in a wide arc. "Now! Close combat!"

Heracross struck with a thunderous right hook that made Torterra take a step back. The fighting pokemon followed it up a straight left and then a spinning back-kick, both of which continued to back up the mighty grass pokemon. Heracross reared back with it's head and slammed down on Torterra with it's horn. The blow forced the torterra down onto it's knees. Heracross brought both arms back together and swung them up in a vicious double hammer blow that threw Torterra back up to it's hind legs.

"Earthquake!" Jake hollered.

As Torterra came crashing down, the ground erupted in quakes. In mid punch, Heracross was thrown aside by the ground beneath it's left side suddenly becoming two feet higher. The bug pokemon rolled through the fall but still dropped to a knee as the earthquakes ravaged it.

"It's already worked once," I called to my pokemon, "so it should work again! Aerial ace!"

Heracross launched into the sky and came screaming around at Torterra. As the bug pokemon got close it suddenly shot back into the sky and leaving a stunned Torterra looking up. Then Heracross made another pinpoint direction change and drove the energy it's horn was wielding into Torterra's back. Jake's pokemon roared in pain as it's back disappeared in an explosion.

"We've got them now!" I pumped a fist. "Close combat!"

Heracross dove out of the explosion, twisting and flipping around to bring both it's arms down in a double ax-handle strike on Torterra's head. Torterra was then rocked with the one-two combination of left jab and right hook.

My pokemon had just leapt into the air to deliver a Superman punch when Jake screamed "Giga drain!"

The three rocks on Torterra's rocks glowed green and then suddenly extended out. Quicker than I could've anticipated, they wrapped themselves around a surprised Heracross. Heracross squirmed as the green tendrils began pulsing. I might not have known everything about pokemon but it was clear that Torterra was absorbing energy from my pokemon.

"Come on Heracross!" I encouraged the embattled pokemon. "You can break free! Use night slash!"

From in between the green tendrils, a purple glow became visible. Heracross' eyes grew hard as it tried to flex it's arms and failed. The giga drain continued as the bug pokemon tried again. It tried once more and the glowing tendrils shattered as my pokemon punctuated it's escape with a "Heracross!"

Now freed, I could see that Heracross had very little left in the tank while Torterra had healed almost all the damage that had been dealt it. We had to regain the upper hand and not let it slip away.

"Close combat!"

"Leaf storm!"

It wasn't until just that second that I realized Heracross didn't have very little left in the tank: it barely had fumes left. The bug pokemon had barely raised a fist when a spiral of glowing green leaves slammed into it. Heracross was pounded into the ground where it was engulfed in an explosion of grassy power.

"Heracross is unable to battle!" The ref announced. "Torterra is the winner!"

Those words left a bitter taste in my mouth. We had been close to perfect but that one slip-up in not anticipating something like a giga drain when I had only seen three attacks so far had cost us. As I ran my tongue over my teeth I saw all the television cameras. We had just been the prime time attraction and I had come up short.

Jake waved me over to the side of the field. I went over even though I really didn't want to talk to him and he said, "Hell of a battle. I thought we were done for for a minute there. If giga drain had missed..." He let the sentence trail off.

"Yeah, well..." I really didn't feel like talking. "You got me now we're even."

"Tell you what," Jake said with a bob of his chin. "If we meet on the road again, we can have a rubber match." Then he offered me his hand.

"No," I said flatly then took his hand. "We can have it at the Pokemon League."

He smiled. "I'll take you up on that."

I did my best not to have a bitter look on my face as Jake walked off and was interviewed by the same reporter who had interviewed me earlier. To keep my focus elsewhere, I walked out onto the battlefield where Heracross had just gotten to it's feet. It looked up at me and mumbled something.

"Good work out there today," I said with total sincerity. "You were a bug possessed. I could hardly believe those shots you were getting in with close combat."

Heracross muttered something that might have been a question.

"I let you down there," I continued, putting a hand against the back of it's head to keep it steady. "I was so focused on dealing damage and the knock-out blow, I never stopped to think that we had only seen three attacks from Torterra. You did everything you could and more than I could've ever asked. I let you down, not the other way around."

The grounds crew was working to repair the damage to the field as my pokemon and I walked off the field. I could tell that they were shooting me dirty looks so I returned Heracross to it's poke ball and increased my pace. Once off the field, I cast one more look in Jake's direction and tried to quell my disappointment.

"The philosopher Jagger once said 'You can't always get what you want. But sometimes, you get what you need."

I turned towards the voice. A woman had been standing behind me. She was in probably her late thirties and about half a foot shorter than me. A headset with microphone sat atop her wavy black hair. I had no idea who she was despite her voice seeming kind of familiar or why she was talking to me.

"I'm sorry," I said, "do I know you?"

She gave me a warm smile. "No, we've never met. In fact, I might be a little creeped out if you did know who I was."

I laughed politely.

She extended her hand. "Leslie Kerrigan. I'm in charge of this whole thing. It's nice to meet you Tim."

Hesitantly I took her hand. "Nice to meet you too. How'd you know my name?"

Leslie had a very high-pitched laugh. "Well they did announce your name before the battle." I turned a nice shade of red as she kept talking. "Also I happened to run your name through the scouts' website when I was looking at the match-ups and decided to see what all the hype was."

"Hype?" I echoed.

She took my elbow and began leading me away from the field as she talked. "Isamu of the poison gym gave you a review that could only be described as outstanding. He's never talked that highly of anyone since I've known him. I wanted to see you battle for myself and then maybe find out what exactly you did to him."

"Did I live up to the hype?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Thankfully yes," Leslie sighed. "Your opponent had also been rating quite well so I had made your battle the main focus. You lead off the hour completely solo. We didn't even check in on the other battles until you were done. You two made for wonderful television although I was a bit disappointed by the end."

"You and me both."

"Me for different reasons. I was hoping your heracross would pick the fight back up and go to a decision. Torterra was higher leveled but Heracross had a type advantage. If it had gone to decision, it might've gone straight over to ESPN Battles Classic."

I cocked an eyebrow at her. "Your joking."

She shook her head. "That was one of the better amateur battles we've seen in a while."

We were quiet and just walked for a moment. I finally realized the website she had talked about was the one where up and coming trainers were rated and reviewed by scouts and gym leaders. I had totally forgotten it even existed.

"So what did you do to Isamu?" Leslie finally asked, breaking our silence.

"He thrashed me completely the first time we faced," I explained. "Then I went away for a few weeks to train and unwind a little. When I faced him again in a full battle, I rolled him up and tossed him aside. Wow, that sounded really arrogant."

Leslie laughed. "That's ok. That was pretty much how Isamu described it too."

My mind drifted back to the first thing Leslie had said to me. "What was that you said a few minutes ago about sometimes getting what you need? Were you really trying to console me with Rolling Stones lyrics? And rip off an episode of House?"

"I'm glad you recognized them," she said as she abruptly stopped walking. We were in front of a large trailer like something a semi truck might haul. The back was open and a ramp led up into the well lit interior. "This is where you get your prize. I figured as long as I was there I'd walk you over."

I stared up into the trailer. "I've seen this one before. There's a serial killer inside who's going to chop my head off right?"

She snorted and smacked me lightly on the shoulder. "Don't be a smartass. We can't just leave all these prizes sitting around in the open. There's still a lot of pokemon left to be given away. We've mostly only given items away so far."

"Oh really? Guess I'll take my chances with that killer then."

Leslie gave my arm a motherly squeeze and then said as she was leaving, "Good luck in the future to you."

"Thank you. Nice meeting you Ms. Kerrigan."

Inside the trailer was a big metal desk with one occupant. She was an older woman who still looked like she had a lot of life in her. The back wall and partway up the sides were covered with enough small cubby holes that it looked like a honeycomb. I had to guess that those held all the prizes. There was one tough looking guy leaning against the shelves that might as well have had "security" written across his forehead and then a younger girl that seemed to be the older ladies assistant.

"Come for your prize have you?" The older woman asked with a soft smile. "Well step on up."

After she verified I was who I said I was, she produced a small device from somewhere beneath the desk and set it on the surface. It was small and black with one large white button and a small digital screen.

"What is it?" I asked.

She laughed. "Not your prize. It's a number generator of sorts. Every prize is assigned a number, one through whatever. Every time the button is pressed, it generates one of those numbers and that's your prize!"

I nodded solemnly and reached forward to tap the button. Nothing happen. The old lady reached forward with a sly smile and flicked a small switch at the top. The screen flashed to life. I hit the button again, ignoring the giggle of the younger girl and was rewarded with the number thirty-nine.

"Abigail, number thirty-nine if you please," the old woman called to the younger who was already tracing a finger along the numbered shelves. In a moment she moved to the desk and handed me a poke ball.

I knew my eyes were huge when I thanked them and moved out of the trailer. A poke ball had to mean a poke ball and Leslie had said there was mostly pokemon left. My heart thundered in my chest as it dawned on me that I might be holding a dratini.

"Poke ball, go!" I called, tossing the ball into the air once I had reached a secluded area.

There was a burst of light and something formed on the ground. It was small. And pink. It had a round body with a little nubby protrusion on top. Big red eyes stared out from underneath a swirl on it's forehead. It waved tiny limbs in greeting.

"Igglybuff?" It asked.

My mouth opened but no sound came out.

"Igglybuff?" It asked again, it's voice getting quiet.

"Igglybuff?" I asked it back.

"Igglybuff," it said, almost looking like it was going to cry.

Suddenly I threw my head back and laughed. I swooped down and scooped the normal-type pokemon up into my arms. It squealed in absolute delight as I tucked it into the crook of my elbow. It was not the pokemon I had expected but it was too damned cute to not love anyway.

"Come on Iggs," I said as I started walked. "Let's find a bigger empty space and you can meet the rest of the team."


	32. Chapter 32

Dylan found me wandering around a bit later, still carrying Igglybuff.

"You've got a pink thing," he stated flatly.

"Igglybuff, meet Dylan," I introduced them. "He travels with us. You can meet all his pokemon later." Then to Dylan I said, "How'd the match go?"

"I advanced," he said with a sigh. "That's all that really matters. From your new friend here, I'm guessing you didn't?"

"Sadly no." Then I told him about my battle with Jake. "It's ok though. I got Igglybuff for losing. Pretty good trade-off. I might let you borrow Iggs if you're nice."

"Why would I want to borrow your igglybuff?" Dylan's voice was thick with skepticism.

"Igglybuff!" Iggs squeaked at him, waving a stubby arm menacingly.

"You want to know how many girls have come up to me cooing about how cute Iggs is?"

Dylan suddenly looked at my pokemon in a new light. "That's definitely an aspect I hadn't considered. It is pretty cute."

"Sure is," I said, shifting the pokemon to my other, less tired arm. "You see David and Vanessa at all?"

His eyes lit up. "Oh, yeah. That's what I was going to tell you before I got distracted by Igglybuff. I ran into David shortly after my match. He told me that Vanessa lost her match and was taking it pretty hard. After his match he was going to take her out to a diner or something to relax."

"Nothing more relaxing than a diner." I rolled my eyes.

"There's not a whole lot of options," Dylan said with a shrug. "He has a tight budget and it's getting kind of late. I guess she was pretty upset though and sitting around in a hotel room stewing probably wouldn't help things. Maybe you should let her know you lost too. Might make her feel better."

I raised my eyebrows at him but I knew it was a good idea. I put Igglybuff away and punched out a text message to Vanessa that clearly all the cool people were getting eliminated from the tournament and that we should hang out tomorrow while the others battled because I suddenly found myself with a lot of free time. I didn't get a response during our walk back to the motel but I was confident that I'd hear from her tomorrow.

The second I got into the motel room I shared with Dylan I flopped onto my bed. I was completely exhausted. Six pokemon battles in one warm, boarder-line hot, day took a lot more energy than I realized. As I laid there, I couldn't decide whether it'd be worth getting up to change clothes or even turn off the lights. Getting up won out. I got ready for bed and then sunk into a deep sleep.

Dylan had to be back to the tournament by nine the next morning so he was up by eight. Whenever he'd walk past my bed I made sure to comment how wonderful sleeping in was and he did his best to ignore me. Quickly he began to make as much noise as he could just so I couldn't go back to sleep. We really have a wonderful friendship.

I did manage to get back to sleep for a bit. It wasn't quality sleep but I was grateful for any extra that I could get. The buzzing of my cell phone woke me up for good. I swiped at it with my hand but it had gone silent before I could find it. When I looked at the screen I saw a text message from Vanessa. She was accepting my offer to hang out while Dylan and David were at the tournament. I tapped out a reply that I was still up for it and would meet her outside the rooms in half an hour after I showered and stuff.

Exactly twenty-nine minutes later I was outside my hotel room. Vanessa was no where to be seen. Less than five minutes later she emerged from her room. Either she wasn't as depressed as Dylan had made her seem anymore or she just hid it well. Her voice dropped to a scary level as she saw Igglybuff perched precariously on my shoulder. "Oh my god it's so cute!"

"Vanessa, this is Igglybuff. Igglybuff, Vanessa."

She tickled the pokemon's stomach and it cooed with delight. With introductions and the obligatory fawning over cuteness out of the way, I started walking. Vanessa was surprised by my sudden movement but quickly caught up.

"So what's the agenda?" she asked, falling into step with me. "This was your idea."

"Well first a bit of business," I replied as we cleared the parking lot. "I haven't been to a pokemon center in a few days. My pokemon are exhausted." I shook my left hand that was in my pocket and heard a reassuring rattle. "Also, I want to send some pokemon to Professor Oak."

"Really? Which ones? I thought you were trying to rotate them all around."

I nodded. "I was but now I'm starting to get more than I can use at one time. I've got a solid rotation of seven but not including Haunter that's already with Oak, two more that I'd like to keep building up. I could work them into the rotation but that's harmful to everyone, just like too many starting pitchers in the rotation. So I'm going to send them to the minor leagues you could say."

"Minor leagues?" Vanessa repeated.

I hopped up on a curb and looked around Iggs at her. "You aren't a baseball fan I take it?" She shook her head. "I figured. The minors are where they send players that aren't quite ready for the big leagues or occasionally are, but just need some fine tuning first."

"That makes sense," she said as the pokemon center came into view. "Which two are you sending back?"

"Corphish and Butterfree. I like what Butterfree brings to the table with it's status changing attacks and it's psychic abilities but I can cope without those. Anything that's weak against psychic I'm pretty sure I can combat in other ways."

"Fighting?" she tested.

"Heracross knows aerial ace."

"Poison?"

"Sandslash knows dig and Marshtomp is resistant to poison now." I purposely didn't mention Steelix because I wasn't sure if I had told her about the pokemon yet. No need to spoil the potential surprise.

"Well those are the two big ones," she acknowledged as we walked through the automated doors of the pokemon center. "I guess you'll be alright."

Once I had handed off the six pokemon I had used in the tournament, I set about doing just what I had told Vanessa. At the transfer machine I punched in Oak's code and then sent the two pokemon to the professor's lab. I toyed with the idea of recalling one of my other pokemon. We were headed for the grass gym and I had a pidgey and a grimer wandering around at Oak's. In the end I opted to leave them where they were. I could always get them later if I decided otherwise. The nurse brought me my pokemon and once Vanessa had hers, we were out the doors again. "So now what?" Vanessa asked as we left the pokemon center. "Any more business to attend to?"

I gave her a solemn nod. "Business of the utmost importance."

Her eyes got big. "What is it?"

"I've got a serious hankering for some pancakes."

It didn't take us long to find a small breakfast joint. We were seated at a rickety old table and then moved to an even more rickety table at my request so I could see their one television that was showing the tournament. I tried to keep one eye on the action as I scanned the menu, a single piece of paper. There was a roserade exchanging blows with a luxio on right now.

Vanessa finally spoke, dragging my attention away from the television. "I saw you on TV last night," she said.

I put my menu down on the red and white checkered tablecloth. "You did? I thought we were eliminated about the same time."

"We were," she confirmed, sipping at her orange juice. "Didn't you stay up and watch the highlights show?"

"Uh... I didn't know there was a highlights show."

She laughed. "Sucks for you then. You made in on there twice. Your battles where you used your pikachu and heracross were pretty entertaining."

"Oh really?" I said in an obvious way that I wanted to hear more.

Vanessa smiled. "You have no shame, do you? They played highlights of your pikachu battle, then your interview and then broke down chunks of your heracross battle. One of the experts said something like you were one slip-up away from winning."

"Don't I know it," I grumbled and then placed my order with the waitress that had just arrived. I got the pancakes and Vanessa got an omlet. When she was gone I asked, "What about you? You fill up the highlight reel too?"

She gave me another smile, this one more bittersweet. "I made it on there once. Mostly it was because they wanted to critique the fact that I'm still using a ratatta and were surprised I won with it."

"Still sticking with plan to not evolve it?" I asked. "That comes with some serious downside. A raticate can learn some pretty powerful moves a ratatta can't."

She played with her silverware for a moment before answering. "I know that. I also know that I want to do things my way and with the pokemon I like. I don't want my team to just be a clone of every other team out there. There's nothing wrong with being different." The way she said this last bit made me think it was originally going to be a question.

"Not at all," I said, partly because I believed it and partly because I knew she needed to hear it. "Look at David. He goes about his business like nobody else I've seen. He uses exactly who he wants and no one else. You can't exactly argue with his results either."

"I know but it's still hard," Vanessa sighed. "You don't really get it because you have the stereotypical team. Fire, water, grass, electric, bug and ground, that's what your last is right?" I nodded since technically it was true. "Not only that, you have standard pokemon of each of those type. My only standard is my charmeleon. I haven't seen another lapras, cubone or flaaffy yet, have you? And I know you haven't seen another ratatta lately."

I hesitated to choose my words carefully. "Standard is really only what someone says it is. You say that our charmeleons are standard fire pokemon but I'll be honest with you, you and I are the only trainers I know that have them. I saw another grovyle in the tournament and a pair of pikachu but that's it. That doesn't make them standard. That just makes them more common than your pokemon."

It took her a moment to digest this. "So what you're saying is that I shouldn't care what other people think? That standard doesn't mean better?"

I shrugged. "Take it however you want it. I'm coming to realize that are no wrong pokemon. Just pokemon that are more right for their trainers. Not type-wise, but personality-wise. As long as you can get along with whatever pokemon you are using, it's not wrong."

"What, are you trying to be a pokemon philosopher now?" Vanessa joked. "Tired of training already?"

"You wish," I said as our food appeared from the kitchen. "That's not a bad idea though. Maybe I'll take that up after I retire from being Pokemon League Champion."

"You'll have to get through me first."

"Bring it."

We shared a moment of silence as we enjoyed our food. My pancakes were soft and fluffy, not at all like my mom's traditionally burned ones. Once they were covered in butter, they hit the spot perfectly. I made a point to savor them a bit since I wasn't sure when my next good meal would be. We paid our checks and were back out on the street again.

"I feel like I should get David something," Vanessa said as we walked. "He was really good to me when I was upset about losing last night. I have no idea what though."

"How about a fruit basket?" I suggested as I saw one in a store window.

"A fruit basket?" My companion repeated.

"Sure. Practical and useful! The perfect gift... especially for sharing."

She dismissed the idea but after ten or so more minutes of walking up and down the store fronts, we were back at the store with the fruit baskets. The older shopkeep straightened up as the bell on the door rattled when we entered. It appeared we were her first customers of the day because she had been watching a small television on her checkout counter. I followed Vanessa up to the counter where she began explaining what she was looking for. The television was what caught my attention: the tournament was on the screen.

"That tournament is one of the better things to happen to this city lately," the shop keep said with only a hint of a southern drawl. "All the stores around here have gotten a nice boost in sales."

"Oh hey look," I interrupted and pointed at the screen. "It's David."

Vanessa shoved me out of the way with surprising force for such a small girl. David was indeed on the screen like I had said. The coverage was promoting the match about to start before going to commercial. I glanced at a clock mounted on the wall. If they were following a schedule similar to yesterday's, the match would be starting in less than three minutes.

"Oh no!" Vanessa shrieked. "I'm going to miss his match!"

"If you buy something in the next ten seconds, we might make the end if we run," I offered, realizing it wasn't much comfort.

"Hurry child!" The shopkeep urged. "We can take my car if you move quickly!"

Vanessa darted to the front of the store and the shop keep looked surprised. "I kind of meant leave right now but you're welcome to buy something first."

"Seriously?" I asked as she began ringing up the fruit basket Vanessa had chosen. "You can just leave your job like that?"

She tucked a graying hair behind her ear and smiled at me. "I own this shop. I can do whatever I damn well please."

True to her word, as soon as Vanessa had checked out, the shop keep hustled us into her old, wood-paneled station wagon. I didn't even have my seatbelt on before she stomped on the gas. For a moment I considered telling her it wasn't like someone was having a baby but she seemed really intent on getting us there. Unfortunately she could only get us so far with some of the roads being blocked off. She still saved us probably ten minutes. I tried to thank her but she waved me off and yelled at Vanessa to run.

I managed to catch up to Vanessa in a few long strides. In our haste, we failed to notice which field David was on. We tried the plain field first and then found him on the rock field. The battle appeared to be winding down. Vlad the wartortle was trying to fend off the advancing pidgeot. David's pokemon was covered in a strange sheet of feathers that seemed to be hindering it's motions. The pidgeot had seized the advantage and was pummeling Vlad was repeated wing attacks. We had just taken out seats when Vlad toppled over and was declared defeated.

"Well at least we made it for something," I mumbled.

As David was leaving the field I caught his eye over the crowd of people. Using overly complex hand signals, I told him that we would be waiting outside the field for him. At least that's what I was trying to communicate. His reply was a half-smile and a shake of his head. Then I followed Vanessa out of the stands.

Dylan actually found us first. He was smiling but there was still a slightly dejected look in his blue eyes. In his left hand he carried a poke ball.

"That a prize?" I asked, indicating the poke ball with my chin.

"Yeah," he sighed. "I'm out. Didn't get the dratini either."

"Don't feel bad," I said as I released Igglybuff and then scooped it into my arms. "Some of the alternate prizes are still quite good."

"You're telling me." He flashed me a grin. "I got an eevee."

"What?"

"No joke. Very young eevee."

I scratched at my neck with my free hand. "Man, maybe we should find some more of these and enter."

It was then that David arrived, trailed by Duke his mankey and Al his zubat. In his hand he carried a poke ball that he regarded warily. Vanessa went up to him, fruit basket in hand. I grabbed Dylan by the shoulder and turned him and myself away from the scene to give the two some privacy.

"What's going on?" Dylan asked. "And what's with the fruit?"

I explained what Vanessa had told me this morning.

"A fruit basket though?" Dylan was incredulous.

"It's both practical and useful!" I insisted. "Am I really the only one who understands this?"

"You guys can turn around now," David's voice floated over our shoulders. "You might want to watch this."

We turned around. David was standing, arm bent with his elbow towards the ground and holding the poke ball lightly. The basket of fruit was on the ground with Al perched on top of a pair of apples. Suddenly I wasn't so hopeful David would share.

"What are we watching?" Dylan asked.

"The unveiling of my dratini."

"You got the dratini?" I felt like my eyes were about to pop out of my skull.

David shrugged. "Well... I don't know yet. I'm just thinking positive. Here goes!"

He tossed the ball softly into the air. What came out was not the small, serpantine dragon pokemon dratini. It was short and plump for starters. It's head was shaped kind of like a watermelon with two tall ears standing up in the center above big eyes. It had a pair of thick arms and two feet poked out at the bottom of it's teal body. A big yawn revealed a big mouth with two large teeth protruding from it's lower jaw.

"A munchlax?" David asked to no one in particular.

"I'd say so," Dylan confirmed as the pokemon sniffed the air.

David smiled. "I'll take it. I shall call you Sumo. What do..." He trailed off as he spotted the igglybuff I was carrying. "What's that?"

"David, Igglybuff. Igglybuff, David." The pokemon waved in greeting. "Iggs was my prize."

"Wow, that's cool," David said. "We got pretty lucky in... Has anyone seen Al?"

We all looked around. I pointed at where the fruit basket was. The now empty fruit basket. Sumo stood next to it, back to us. It's cheeks moved slightly.

"Sumo... have you seen Al?" David asked in a parental voice. "Or my fruit for that matter?"

The normal-type pokemon slowly turned around. It's cheeks were positively bulging from what I had to assume was the remains of David's fruit. Then I saw what was protruding from it's mouth: a flapping blue wing.

"Sumo!" David exclaimed. "No! Bad! We do not eat Al!"

Caught red-handed, the munchlax began to run. Although waddle was probably a more apt description. Duke took off after it at David's command. The mankey easily caught up and leapt to the sky. It came crashing down on Sumo, slamming the pokemon to the ground. The impact caused the munchlax to cry out in surprise as it hit the ground and a very slobbery zubat rolled out it's mouth. Al appeared to be only wounded it's pride as it shrieked at David's newest pokemon. David just slowly shook his head as he recalled all his pokemon.

"Man," I said. "I really wanted some of that fruit.

We were gone from the city by mid-afternoon. After we stopped back at the grocery store Vanessa had purchased her fruit basket from to stock up on some essentials, we oriented ourselves with Dylan's GPS and got to walking. Along the same path were several people we recognized from the tournament. They were all content to continue licking their wounds and didn't challenge us.

Dylan found us a nice path along the coastline to follow. It had plenty of frequent cities to stop and use the pokemon centers to sleep in. I mentioned the path that was supposed to be faster that I had been told about but we opted to stick with the scenic route. Many other people had taken the same path as us and eventually we found ourselves battling. I used the same strategy with Igglybuff that I used with Sandshrew and had Heracross out and tutoring the small pokemon in the ways of battling. At nights Heracross and I worked with Iggs to help it grow stronger.

Most of my battles were not especially memorable until one cloudy day about a week into our travels. Out of nowhere, a giant hulking man appeared in front of me. His head was shaved and his thick arms were sleeved in tattoos. Taller than me, I thought he might be a professional fighter.

"You and me," he said, poking a meaty finger into my chest. "We battle."

My first instinct was to plead with him not to eat me but I swallowed that urge and just nodded. I considered both my pokemon and my surroundings as we moved away from the group. We had strayed from the coast a bit so water would not be a factor. My opponent that I began referring to as Cueball since he didn't tell me his name stopped in the middle of an area off the side of a paved road. It was mostly dirt but with some sizeable patches of grass too. I didn't have any reason to rule out any of my pokemon and decided on Sandslash.

"Here we go!" Cueball announced. "One on one! Go, Nidoking!"

Cueball's pokemon was big, purple and pointy. That was really the best way to describe it. Two thick legs carried a powerful looking body that had a row of nasty looking spikes going down it's back. It's two arms looked like they packed some serious punch as did it's thick tail. In between two spike covered ears and above two mean-looking eyes rested a big pointed horn. Even though it was little more than a foot taller than Sandslash, it seemed to tower over my pokemon.

"Haven't seen one of these before," I said to myself. I was however familiar with the ground- and poison-type pokemon because I had always thought them to be, if nothing else, pretty cool looking.

"Let's get it started Nidoking!" Cueball declared, hands on his hips. "Horn attack!" Nidoking lowered it's head and charged.

"Sandslash, crush claw!" I countered.

Holding it's claws back behind it's body, Sandslash ran at the charging nidoking. As the gap closed, Sandslash's claws gained a faint white glow and small sparks danced around them. Nidoking lowered it's head even more and that's when Sandslash jumped. After clearing Nidoking's head, it slammed down it's claws onto the bigger pokemon's back. Nidoking was driven down into the ground where it crashed face-first. Sandslash rolled off to the side and came up facing it's opponent.

"Focus blast!"

Sandslash brought it's arms back around to it's left side where it cradled the glowing orb as it floated in the air. Shifting the full weight of it to it's left claws, the ground pokemon heaved the attack at the rising Nidoking.

"Nidoking, poison jab!"

Nidoking pulled back it's right arm that began to glow with a familiar purple light. When the focus blast got closer, it lashed out at it. At first nothing happened. The two attacks were at a stalemate. Then Nidoking let out a roar and overpowered my pokemon's attack. The focus blast flattened out as Nidoking tried to push through it. Like a piece of rubber, it snapped back into shape but traveling the opposite direction.

"Dig now Sandslash!" I yelled.

Sandslash disappeared into the earth just as the redirected focus blast passed through the air it had just occupied. With my pokemon safely underground for a moment, I took the time to reassess the situation. It would seem that this nidoking was stronger than I might have initially thought.

My thoughts were interrupted by Cueball shouting, "Earthquake!"

Nidoking jumped in the air. When it landed, the ground began to shake. Emanating from where the pokemon landed, energy rippled out in white waves. I heard a squawking buzz and suddenly Sandslash was hurled out of the ground. The pokemon was launched out at an angle and skipped once on the ground before sliding to a halt. Sandslash winced as it rose back up to it's full height. I had forgotten how devastating Earthquake is to a pokemon that's underground.

"Hang in there buddy!" I urged. "Let's try rollout!"

Sandslash jumped forward and became a rolling blur. I knew that Nidoking's types were going to make this rock-type attack less effective but I also knew that if Sandslash could make contact more than once, the power of it's attack would go up each time. It was a gamble I was willing to take.

"Oh no you don't!" Cueball roared. "Double kick!"

Nidoking launched itself into the air with powerful legs, pushing off with it's tail for additional propulsion. When it reached maximum altitude, the poison pokemon pulled it's legs up to prepare for it's double kick. How it was even able to see while it was rolling I didn't know but Sandslash launched itself into the air a second later. Taking flight second gave Sandslash the opportunity to pick it's spot and it picked Nidoking's head. The rolling ground pokemon cleared the readied kick attack and plowed right through Nidoking's face. The poison pokemon was sent tumbling end over end until it crashed into the ground.

"Again!" I shouted when Sandslash landed as well.

Sandslash responded by blowing through the rising nidoking. The nidoking responded by getting right back up. Even with the increasing power of consecutive rollout it became clear that my pokemon was outclassed. I ground my teeth together as I admitted to myself that I couldn't win a slugfest. I would have to use some smarts too.

"Sandslash!" I got my pokemon's attention. "Use focus blast and then use dig!"

Nidoking got to it's feet just in time to see Sandslash lift the glowing focus blast above it's head. Sandslash heaved the orb at Nidoking and used the forward momentum to dive forward and disappear onto the ground. Cueball grimaced, grunted and took a step back. He could order Nidoking to dodge or counter the focus blast but then it would be open to attack from dig. Or vice versa. Or he could freeze in indecision, which is what happened. The focus blast exploded against Nidoking's flank as it tried to twist away at the last second. As it staggered out of the smoke cloud, Sandslash erupted from earth. My pokemon slammed into it's foe and sent the bigger pokemon spiraling to the ground.

"Use horn attack! " Cueball shouted, finally having regained his composure.

Nidoking was up and charging faster that I expected. It ducked it's head down, slamming it's horn into Sandslash's chest and lifting it into the air. Carrying my pokemon along, I could see that Nidoking was aiming to drive it into a tree it something else hard. Sandslash was clearly already in pain; I wasn't sure it would survive an impact.

"Use crush claw!"

Sandslash slammed it's glowing claws down on Nidoking. The response from the nidoking was to drop it's head and drag Sandslash along the ground before hoisting it back up again. Now I was certain my pokemon wouldn't survive whatever impact Nidoking had in mind. Sandslash slammed down another crush claw with a better result: Nidoking stumbled. The end was coming one way or another.

"Throw it in the air!" That was Cueball. "Then poison jab!"

"Focus blast!" was my reply. "Give it all you've got!"

As Nidoking pulled it's glowing hand back, Sandslash formed the glowing orb in between raised claws as it plummeted back down. Nidoking struck first. It slammed a purple poison jab right into my pokemon's gut. I could see Sandslash's little black eyes start to roll back and there was nothing I could do about it. The eyes reversed direction for just a moment and swung it's arms down. The focus blast detonated right in the poison pokemon's face. Both combatants crumpled to the ground.

There was a moment of silence as Cueball and I stared at each other over top of the unmoving bodies of our pokemon. Then he said, "Alright, we'll call it a draw." And then he was gone.

"Never seen that before." That was David from somewhere behind me.

"What, a tie?" I asked as I collected my pokemon.

"Yeah. Double knock out."

"Me either. Hopefully if I see one again, it won't be with my pokemon."

We continued to make good time down the Atlantic coast. The further south we went, the fewer trainers we saw and the fewer battles we had. I was surprised by this. With the seasons turning I had assumed that we'd be finding a lot of trainers down where it stayed warmer.

After close to a week of travel, we found ourselves relaxing on a surprisingly deserted beach just a few miles south of Charleston, South Carolina early one morning. The four of us were sprawled out on the cold sand. The sun was hidden behind clouds and there was a light breeze but it was still warm enough to be comfortable. David claimed it felt like rain but other than some clouds off the coastline, there was no real evidence.

Our silence was shattered by a buzzing and then Dylan scrambling to get his cell phone out of his pocket. "Hey Mom."

There was a pause as he listened and sat up. "No Mom, we aren't on TV. That was a while ago. At least three weeks. You must be…" He paused as his mom talked. "What do you mean it says live? We aren't on TV. We're sitting on a beach… what do you mean you see us sitting on a beach?"

I spun around to a crouch, inadvertently throwing sand on David and Vanessa. My eyes scanned the horizon behind us. I saw no one. Then a dark figure stepped forward. He wasn't dark as in menacing, more dark as in shrouded in dark colored rain gear. There was something large in his hands that he held up in front of his face: a camera.

"The weather channel?" Dylan repeated. "Why are we on the weather channel?"

"The hell!" David spat. "What's going on?"

I didn't have an answer but my heart was beating faster. Clearly whatever was going on was not going to be good for us. I looked back to Dylan just in time to see his eyes go wide. He uttered a word that I certainly would never say when on the phone with my mother.

Dylan got to his feet and wrestled his backpack back on. "We need to go. We need to go right now."

"What's going on?" Vanessa asked as we all grabbed our packs and moved to follow Dylan.

"There's a hurricane coming," Dylan said as we moved past the camera guy. To the cameraman Dylan said," Thanks for giving us a heads up." The sarcasm was evident.

"Whoa, hold on," David tried to grab Dylan by the arm as he picked up his pace. "A hurricane?"

"It's still a bit off. We should be able to avoid it," Dylan explained as we all broke into a quick walk/slow jog. "If we just head straight west we should be able to avoid the storm. We might get rained on still but we should be safe."

"That explains why this place is so empty," I grumbled as I hopped up on a curb. "Nice of everyone to warn us. How did none of the pokemon centers we were at mention that to us?"

"They probably did and we just didn't pay attention," Dylan answered distractedly as he looked as his GPS and then to the sky. "Shit! There's too many clouds! I can't get a location!"

"To hell with it!" David moved into the lead. "Just keep the coast behind us! How long do we have?"

"My mom said the weather channel's best guess was rain will start in about two hours. The big stuff will be about an hour or two behind that."

"I read somewhere that people walk at like three-and-a-half miles an hour, I think," Vanessa chimed in. "If we're moving faster than a normal walk, I think we should get clear. I think."

"One way to find out." David broke into a jog and we all followed.

We weaved around parked cars and down deserted streets. There was no one around to offer us shelter or even just some advice. It was like running through a ghost town. The bouncing of my backpack was beginning to really hurt my shoulders but there was no other way to carry it. A wind came from our backs and helped propel us forward in more than one way.

"Where are we?" I asked as we slowed to a brisk walk. "That was the edge of the city or town or whatever the hell it was."

"Keep going!" David snapped and pointed forward. "Head for those trees! If we can get through those, we should be safe!"

The aforementioned trees were probably about two hundred yards in front of us. The coast was no longer visible behind us after our forty minute exodus. With Dylan's GPS unable to get a signal, we had to hope that we were still heading west. With a hand pressed to my side, I hustled after my friends. The trees grew in size quickly. Once we started intertwining our way through them, we slowed to a normal walk. They were grown surprisingly close together. More than once I had to remove my backpack to squeeze between the trunks.

"I see an opening!" Vanessa called from about a dozen feet ahead of me.

I stumbled once over an upraised root and was the last of my friends to emerge from the forest. Saying that we were out of the forest was a stretch. Twenty feet ahead of us was another thick forest, at least as thick if not thicker. We were standing on what looked like a well-used footpath. The edges by the trees were lined with grass but through the center was walked down to hard dirt.

"I still have no idea where we are," Dylan said as he tried to catch his breath and look at his GPS. "I have no signal at all. Not even a cell phone signal."

The rest of us checked our phones to find that we all had no signal as well.

"Hey, I wonder if this is that path I heard about," I said, really just thinking out loud. "It's supposed to be a shortcut."

"Hopefully it is," David said as he walked in a slow circle to keep from cramping. "Not like we have a choice anyway. Might as well get walking. We should keep checking our phones and the GPS every hour or so."

"Yessir!" I threw him a salute.

Once we began walking south, the only way I could tell time had passed was when we all checked our phones for signals. The only thing to look at was either the sky or the corridor of trees that we were traveling down. It was incredibly boring. It was also incredibly empty. There was no other people besides ourselves and surprisingly, no pokemon.

"This is getting kind of creepy," Vanessa said, just barely above a whisper. "It's so quiet."

Dylan nodded. "There's no noise at all. No pokemon or anything. We went from a creepy, empty city to a creepy, empty forest. Fantastic."

"Not like there's anything we can do about it," I said as I adjusted the straps on my pack to ride somewhere else on my shoulders. "Might as well keep going."

Once the sky began to darken, something new came into view. At first it wasn't clear as to what it was. We forced our tired legs into a slightly quicker pace in hope that it would be… well, anything besides trees really. As we hobble up to what turned out to be the top of a hill everything came into view: it was a town. Not anything big, but a town nonetheless. It was eight blocks total, arranged in two rows of four. To the left side of the town, past the second row of blocks was some kind of white building. If it was a house, it was big enough to qualify as a mansion but it looked more like something that could be the seat of a government.

"Where are we?" Vanessa asked. "What town is this?"

"Not a clue." Dylan was holding his GPS up above his head trying to get a signal. "I still have no signal."

"It looks like it's at least inhabited." David pointed down the hill. "I can see lights. That looks like a diner maybe?"

"You can see that far?" I squinted but the lighted windows still looked like undistinguishable blobs. "I can't see anything but lights."

"I said maybe."

For the first time in a while, I laughed. "I'll take your word for it.

As we headed down the hill, it became that despite the appearance of a town that the trees did not stop. They continued their corridor all the way down the hill and around the hill, bowing out slightly to make a small backyard area for the unidentified building. Then the wall of foliage reconvened at the other end of the town to continue it's path off into oblivion as far as I could tell.

"See, what did I tell you?" David announced when we reached the bottom of the hill. He pointed down the main street that was surprisingly wide. "That's a diner down there!"

I waved him off. "Fine, fine. You have the eyes of an elf. Or something else that has good eyesight."

Walking into the heart of the town, it became a little creepy. Even though there were lights on, we still didn't see any people. We spread out in the unnecessarily wide main street to examine this new locale. It was seriously like thirty-something feet wide. This place had all the makings of your typical small town. There were a couple house but more of what appeared to be apartment buildings or maybe condos. Just a few doors ahead of our targeted diner was a mom and pop grocery store along with various other locally own businesses.

"I kind of like this place," Vanessa said, clearly not feeling the creepy vibe that I was getting. "It's cute."

I muttered something about trusting her on that one as I pulled open one of the double doors to the diner. It reminded me of an old time diner on the inside. The floor was a checker board of black and white with several red tables scattered about and a line of booths along the far wall. To the left of the entrance was a bar that people could sit at separating a big flat grill fryer. The bar fell away in the corner to allow for a stairway that led upstairs to where I could only assume the owners lived.

"Why is everyone looking at us?" Dylan whispered.

When I looked up, I realized that he was right. There was only about a dozen people in the restaurant but they were all now looking at us. Surprisingly, not a one of them was even close to our age. I pegged the youngest as a woman probably around twenty-seven. It didn't make her eyes any less hate-filled than any of the others. We slowly made our way to the bar and sat on four unoccupied stools.

"What the hell you want?" the cook spat. He was a husky fellow, a bit of a belly concealed by a grease-spattered t-shirt. The frown on his face was outlined by brown stubble with spots of gray. His angry blue eyes burned right through me.

"Um, could we get something to eat?" I asked quietly. "Please?"

"Please?" the cook roared. "You think you're funny?"

There was a scraping of chairs as all the other patrons got to their feet.

"What the hell is going on here?" I asked Dylan.

"Search me," was his reply as he slid off his seat to cover my back.

"Look here," that was David. "We don't want any trouble. We're just hoping to eat something. We'll leave."

"Oh will you?" sneered someone in the crowd. "You're trainers, ain't cha?"

"Yes…," Vanessa said slowly and I knew instantly that was the wrong answer.

I was suddenly jerked off my feet by the cook grabbing my shirt. "We don't take kindly to your types around here," he growled. "Better hope your friends get here before we kick the shit out of you."

"Friends?" I repeated, my voice cracking. "What friends? All my friends are here!"

Confusion flashed over the cook's eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"What are you talking about?" I was getting a little hysterical now. "All we wanted was some food! First we're running from a hurricane and then we're walking through god damn trees and we finally find a town and now everyone wants to kill us! I just wanted some food! What is wrong with everyone?"

"You aren't with them?"

"Who's them?" Dylan joined in, exasperated. "We're with each other! We got lost in the forest and followed the trail here!"

"Oh." The cook set me down. "Oh shit."

I looked around to see that all the hostility in the room had evaporated. It had been replaced with some sorrow and in a few, fear that appeared to be for us. This did nothing to fill in the blanks that I still had. Absolutely nothing about what just happened made sense in any way shape or form.

"How did you get this far?" asked a man.

"What the hell are you talking about?" David asked back. "We walked. It's not like we were climbing mountains!"

The man exchanged a look with the cook and then said, "They have no idea. No idea at all."

"Ok, time-out," Dylan said, stepping out towards the crowd and making a T with his hands. "What is going on? Why did you all look like you wanted to kill us and why is it so surprising that we got here?"

"This is not a free town," the man replied in a soft voice. "We are owned. No one comes unless they allow it. No one ever leaves. They've taken all our pokemon and do some kind of research at the big house. There's no way to battle them. They're the only ones with pokemon which is why we thought you were them."

"We can't even battle for our freedom," the younger woman added softly.

"Can't battle who?" Vanessa almost yelled. "Who owns all this or whatever?"

The cook exchanged a sad look with his patrons. Now that all the hostility was gone, all I could see was sadness. A minute ago they had been vibrant and alive; now they just looked deflated.

"Team Rocket," he said in almost a whisper. "Welcome to Pallet Town, owned by Team Rocket."


	33. Chapter 33

"Team Rocket?" I repeated. "Who the hell is Team Rocket?"

"Oh man, Pallet Town," was the response Dylan and David gave to my surprise.

The patrons moved us to a table against the far wall, as far away from the front doors and windows as they could. The table hadn't been cleaned in some time. I had to carefully place my arms on it so they didn't stick to the surface. My chair was at least clean but it rocked which was incredibly annoying. One man stayed near the door to keep an eye out for someone. The rest formed a semicircle around us and introduced themselves. I felt like I was in kindergarten or something on the first day.

"Why are you more concerned with the name of this place than who owns it?" I asked Dylan. "I think your priorities are a little backwards."

The cook who had identified himself as Paul looked at me strangely. "Seriously? You've never heard of Pallet Town? The Sacred Home?"

"Sorry," I sniffed. "My handbook skipped all the legends."

"No it didn't," Dylan muttered and I elbowed him.

"Seriously," Paul continued. "How can you be a trainer and have not heard of this?"

I shrugged. "I wasn't brought up with stories of trainers. My mom didn't want me to become a trainer."

"Why not?"

"Probably because she was afraid shit like this would happen."

Paul sighed and began his story. "Pallet Town is the home of the Original Trainer. It's said that at one time, humans and pokemon were one and the same. At some point they became separate species. The first person is referred to as the Original Trainer. There's mention of him in several ancient texts but no one can for sure determine what his name was and the only location ever mention in context with him was a place called Pallet Town. No one could ever locate a place called Pallet Town on any ancient maps but everyone is convinced that Red, that's the name that people decided to call the Original Trainer, is from there or lived there at some point. This obviously isn't actually _the_ Pallet Town but that's what Team Rocket calls it. It's the origin of a lot of their experiments and training so I guess it's kind of appropriate."

David held up a hand. "Hang on a second. Unlike Tim, I'm familiar with Red, the Original Trainer but I don't know Team Rocket. Are they like gangsters or something?"

A black woman with long, silky hair named Nicole fielded that one. "Gangsters and something," she said. "They steal pokemon from trainers; they poach pokemon from pokemon reserves; they do a lot of pokemon research, most of it on a genetic level, to try and enhance pokemon to be stronger and faster. They mostly do it over in the Oak Building."

"That's messed up," Vanessa said, hands over her mouth.

"Oak Building?" Dylan echoed. He probably had the tight feeling in his chest like I did.

"That big white building." Nicole waved a hand in the general direction of the huge building we had seen earlier. "You probably saw it on the way in. I guess Professor Oak used to own it before it caught fire and burned down, oh probably a decade ago. It was sold to Team Rocket most likely through some dummy corporation because I can't imagine Professor Oak would endorse what they do there. He'd probably be sick if he saw what they were doing in there with some of the data in there that survived the fire."

"Oak didn't come get the data?" The tight feeling abated a little but there were still lingering questions.

"He had backups somewhere so there was really no need. Also, the fire was supposedly so intense that there was no way that anything would've survived." She sighed. "We had a look at the building not long after it burned. It looked bad but most of the building was still in fair shape. I think way more survived that Oak was lead to believe. They've learned and done some sick shit with his data."

Vanessa held up one hand like a nervous school kid. "Can I ask a question? A dumb question?" When Nicole nodded, she asked "Why don't you just leave?"

A guy who's name I couldn't remember snorted. "That is kind of a dumb question," he said with a hint of a Mexican accent. "We don't leave because we can't. They patrol the only two exits. You can't get through the trees either. Believe me. A houndoom dragged my brother back by his arm when he tried. He said that the trees get too thick to pass through about twenty yards out."

I shook my head. Every time we ran into bad news, there was a houndoom. When Dylan and I were attacked on our first days of trainers, pretty sure those were houndoom. When we were almost robbed on our way to Chicago? Houndoom. When we had to battle to save David's cousin Dani's farm? Houndoom.

"Hang on." Dylan rested his forehead in his hand. "If they won't let you leave, I hate to say it, but why are you even still alive? I mean no offense, but what's the point in letting you live."

"There's really not one," said Sam, the guy with the mexican accent who's name I just remembered, with a sad smile. "We've asked ourselves that more than once."

"And?" Dylan prompted.

"These Team Rocket punks may be bad people but they aren't sociopaths," was the explanation Sam had. "Being mean to pokemon is one thing but most of these guys either can't or won't kill a man in cold blood. To them, pokemon are just tools though. But don't push them. We don't have all the citizens we started with…"

"Back to Vanessa's question," I said mostly because I wasn't sure I wanted to keep listening to what was being said. "We know that there's no cell phone reception but what about land lines? Or even the internet?"

"How dumb do you think we are?" replied a woman named Charlotte with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "We tried all that. This isn't some book or television show. These guys are smart." She and others shook their heads in disgust. "They cut all landlines and internet connections. Satellite dishes were stolen before we even knew what was going on. There's a few places they let keep cable TV but that's it. We're cut off completely. We can't even win ourselves back."

David's frown matched my own and he said, "Win yourselves back? I don't understand."

"They probably aren't serious but the guys in charge said if we could beat them in a pokemon battle, they'd let us go free," sighed Nicole. "If we lost though... well, they got to keep our pokemon."

"Oh shit," I breathed. "Did anyone actually try?"

"A number of people," Paul said, rejoining us. I hadn't even noticed he'd left but he sat down ham sandwiches in front of us. He dropped his weight into an unoccupied chair. "We couldn't beat them. We didn't have any rare pokemon, a few stronger ones but that was it. They had all types; dragon, lots of poisons and darks, steel, you name it. No one here was a professional trainer So we were pretty outclassed."

"That's horrible," Vanessa said around a mouthful of food.

Dylan sighed loudly and dropped his sandwich onto his plate. "I'm tired of tip-toeing around it. Can we get out? Or are we stuck here?" The residents of the town exchanged glances. "Be straight with us. Are we fucked?" He heavily enunciated his last words.

A pregnant silence fell over the group. That in itself said it all.

"What about battling?" someone asked from the back. "Could they free us?"

"We can't ask them to do that for us," Paul said with a sad shake of his head. "It's not their fight."

A growl emanated from Dylan's throat. "You didn't answ-"

"They're back!" the man watching the windows cut Dylan off. "I see headlights!"

Before I could ask what was going on, people were moving. There was a heavy scuffing of chairs on laminated floors as everyone moved back to the seats they had been in when we had first arrived. Paul snatched our sandwiches away and shoved them at another group.

"Get upstairs!" he hissed, indicating the staircase next to the main counter. "If you get caught, you're done for! I'll hide you as long as I can but you need to move! Now!"

We scrambled to our feet and darted for the stairs.

"Don't move when you get up there!" Paul called in a loud whisper. "The floor creaks!"

The top floor through the door was a studio apartment. The door opened on the far right of the room, directly across from a bookshelf. Further along the wall below a big line of windows, one of them open and screen-less, was a bed that poked into the center of the room and a dresser. Against the opposite wall was a television, desk and doors that lead to a bathroom and a closet. David staked out a sitting spot near the door where he could heard. Vanessa was practically sitting in the closet. Dylan and I had our backs against the wall, right below the windows.

For the longest time the only thing we could hear besides our own breathing was the occasional scrape of a fork and knife against a plate. Then there was a small chime to indicate that the door to the diner had opened. Suddenly there was no longer the sounds of our breathing. David's eyes grew wide and squinted down as he listened to scraps of the conversation. Dylan and I hadn't sat close enough to hear and we didn't dare move to get closer. David whispered a curse or two but I never saw fear on his face which told me that this Team Rocket didn't know we were there.

Time seemed to drag. Or maybe it went by like a rocket. I couldn't see a clock so I had no idea how long we had been hiding. At first adrenaline had been pumping through my veins but the longer we sat there, the more it wore off. I may have actually dozed off for half a second in the dark. I hadn't realized just how tired I had been. The squeak of a wooden stair started the juice pumping again. Silently, we all adjusted to crouches in case we had to fight or run. Instead, Paul appeared.

"They're gone," he said quietly. "You should probably stay up here though. More might drop by later. Are you guys all right?"

We nodded.

"Good. I'll get you some more food up here in a bit. There's a pipe that runs up that wall." He pointed to the wall behind the television. "It runs all the way down through the kitchen. If you hear me bang on it, that means the Rockets are back. Stop moving completely. I'll bang twice when they leave." Then he was gone.

"Shit in a hat," I sighed, running a hand over my face. "What do we do?"

"We get out of here," David said simply.

I snorted. "How? You heard them."

"We can't just leave these people to suffer," Vanessa put in, her brow furrowing. "We have to help them!"

"We can help them by getting out of here," I replied, sliding back down the wall to a sitting position. "We can get help. There's nothing we can do here."

"We can fight." That surprisingly came from Dylan.

I looked at him in the dim light. "What?"

"What they said before, battling to free themselves. We can win their freedom for them."

"There's no way," David was as skeptical of the idea as I was. "Who knows how good of trainers they actually are. Besides that, I can't believe they'd fight fair."

"I'm with David," I said. "It's not our fight."

"We can't just leave them!" Vanessa insisted.

"How can we not fight?" Dylan asked me. "Can your conscience live with leaving them here like this?"

"I don't think I could live with having my pokemon forcibly taken from me," I snapped. "If we could get out of here somehow, we could get them help! If we fight and lose, then no one is helped! Everyone's worse off because we just gave Team Rocket all of our pokemon! Could you live with yourself if Croconaw or Croagunk or Ivysaur was in the hands of people that would enslave a whole town?" I shook my head in disgust. "I know I couldn't."

Dylan had no response for that. He had already freed Croagunk once from a bad trainer and had intention of having to ever do it again.

"I agree with you that fighting for them would be the noble thing to do," I continued as my voice rose slightly, "but this isn't some television show where the random kids wander in and save everyone. This is real life! We've only got three badges anyway. It's not like we're some elite trainers. They said Team Rocket had dragon pokemon! Those are rare! We aren't up to this!"

"But… but…" Vanessa tried to come up with a counter argument.

"Tim's right," David said. "We might end up in a battle trying to escape but we shouldn't go looking for one."

"Fine then," Dylan huffed. He crossed his arms over his chest. "How do we get out of here then?"

Silence reigned over the room. While David and I were determined that we needed to leave Pallet Town as soon as we could, we had no idea how to do it. We didn't even know what we were up against and how many people. Did they have cars? And if so, how many? Were there patrols? We had way more questions than answers at the moment. He and I began throwing ideas out and dissecting them. Reluctantly, Dylan and Vanessa joined in.

A bang sounded inside the wall.

We all froze instantly. Dylan was in the middle of pointing at something and stopped moving mid-point. I even held my breath for a moment. The position I was sitting in wasn't especially comfortable but I grit my teeth and waited it out. We were beginning to think that it might have been a mistake when we heard the bang again. And again. And again and again and again.

"Someone's coming!" David hissed. "Hide!"

As if to confirm what David had just said, we heard a creak from the stairway. Vanessa and David slowly rose to their feet and slid towards the closet. Only moving when they heard creaks they wedged themselves inside on either side of the shallow closet. They tugged their backpacks in after them and tried to get flat against the wall. Someone just had to look in and turn their head slightly to see them. Dylan and I managed to squeeze ourselves under the bed. It was surprisingly low to the ground and we barely made it under. Our backpacks couldn't fit so we maneuvered them to the far side of the bed and prayed they wouldn't be noticed.

The squeak of the hinges on the door were like an warning bell for us as the door swung open.

I made a conscious effort to keep my breathing under control as two boots appeared. Black leather hiking boots thumped into the room. I stopped breathing all together as they approached the bed. They moved to the front and twisted like the wearer was looking around.

"You sure you heard something?" Black boots yelled back down the stairs with a slightly New Jersey accent. "I don't see nothing."

"I told you," said a new voice. "The DVD player was on. I came up here and turned it off a few minutes ago!" It was Paul the cook.

"I guess," said Boots. "You sure you heard something Petey?"

"Sure thought so." Another new voice and another pair of boots appeared. "Could've been a DVD. Didn't really hear any words."

Dylan rotated his head to look at me. _We need to get out of here_, he mouthed. I gave a slight nod.

"Shit I'm glad we didn't tell the boss," Black boots said. "He'd been pissed."

"You guys done looking at my stuff yet?" Paul sighed.

"Maybe, maybe not." I could only imagine the sneer on the Rocket's face. There was a pause and then he said. "Ok Petey, let's go. We got shit to do."

The two pairs of boots clomped to the door and down the stairs. Paul moved to follow them but at the last second he turned and whispered, "Keep it down! That was close!" Then he was gone.

We didn't move until we heard the double bang from Paul to let us know it was clear. Dylan and I wormed our way out from under the bed. As we rose to a crouch we had to wipe a nice layer of dust off our clothes. David and Vanessa shuffled out of the closet and immediately dropped back down to the floor.

"We need to get out of here," Dylan whispered to them. "That was too close. I know Paul said Team Rocket doesn't usually kill but being stuck here for the rest of our lives would be almost as bad."

"Damn right," I agreed, shouldering my pack. "Let's move."

"What, out the front door?" David shrugged into his own pack. "We can't just walk right out. If someone's watching the door they'll know that Paul lied to them."

"The windows?" Vanessa suggested.

Slowly sliding my feet across the floor I approached the row of windows. I planted my knees against the wall and slowly rose up. The windows turned out to be about three feet above what looked like a ring of roofing that went around the whole building. The street lights illuminated another building nearby and saw I that almost all the buildings had similar rings at their second levels. The ring stuck out about three feet, more than enough for us to stand on. I reported my findings.

"How far down is it?" Vanessa asked.

I shrugged.

"We can lower each other down," David said. "Get out the window, move around to avoid the main street and drop down. It's pretty much that or go out the front door."

I moved back to the window and popped it open. I poked my head out and did a quick scan of the street before giving a thumbs-up to my friends. Slowly I slid one leg out of the window. Once I was sure the roof would hold, I ducked my head through the window and out into the cool nigh air. Placing my back against the cold brick of the building, Dylan placed my backpack in my hand and I scooted down the ledge. Upon looking down, I began to regret this idea. It was a bit higher than it had first looked. I shuffled around the corner to make room for the others. When we were all out on the ledge and around the corner, David and I each grabbed one of Dylan's arms to lower him down. He was easily the biggest and strongest of us all and would have the easiest time lower people down from the ground. We almost fell once but managed to get him down without incident. We lowered Vanessa next which was much easier. I slid my legs over the edge until I felt Dylan's hands under my feet. David grabbed my arm and helped lower me to the point where I could drop. Then Dylan and I reached up to lower David.

"Ok, we're out," Dylan whispered. "Now where?"

We were in a long alley in between buildings. It wasn't very wide, maybe six feet across. We had only moved a few feet when a door swung open. No one moved a muscle. The head of a gray-haired woman popped out. He bright floral dress made her extremely visible in the night. She waved us over. When we hesitated, she waved more urgently.

"You must be the new kids," she whispered when we finally approached. "I heard about you from Paul. Hurry and get inside. Hurry!"

She was surprisingly strong for an old woman as she latched onto my arm and yanked me inside. Her home was full of dull yellows and pinks, more or less the stereotypical old person house. She led us through the entry way and straight into the kitchen. Once she had us seated at the table she moved to the back door and peered through the curtains.

"That was an awfully bold escape," she said once she was content no one had been alerted.

"Thank you ma'am," David said proudly and she smacked him in the back of the head. "Ow! What was that for?"

"You climbed out onto a roof in plain sight!" She shook her head as she moved around the kitchen in slippered feet. Like a stereotypical older lady, she began pulling food out of her fridge. "What were you thinking? Do you realize how easily you could've been seen? You would've been better served to go out the front door! You think this is an action movie or something?"

We all colored slightly as she began putting things on the table. "I've got pb&j, tuna fish and turkey. Who wants what?"

"Pb&j for me please, ma'am," I said and then she smacked me upside the head. "What the hell?" She smacked me again.

"First, don't call me ma'am," she waved a finger at me. "Makes me feel old. You can call me Anna. Second, no swearing in my home."

"Sorry ma'-Anna."

"That's better. Grape jelly ok?"

I nodded just in case. She hit hard for an old lady.

While we ate a full meal this time, Anna asked us how we had managed to get here and more importantly, not get caught. We told her the same story we told to the people in the diner. After we ate, she took us to a guest bedroom and ordered us to get some sleep because we might not get some any time soon. Vanessa took the small bed and I won Rock-Paper-Scissors for the small couch which I ended up regretting. It was way too small to fit me. Despite the lack of comfort, I still fell asleep quickly.

David had apparently been up for a while when he shook me awake. "Come on, get up. Let's go," he said quietly.

I wiped sleep from my eyes. "Go where?"

"It's still dark. The longer we wait here, the more likely we are to get found. Now's our chance to make a break for it."

I couldn't argue with the logic. A look at a clock told me that we had maybe an hour or two left before the sun would betray us. I gathered up my things and after a quick trip to the bathroom, I was ready to go. We tip-toed out of our room and to the kitchen. Using the backdoor, we slipped out into the street. The sun was just high enough over the horizon to be visible but barely. We were back in one of the main side streets again, which I guess actually made the backdoor the front door.

"Come on," David said. "This wa-"

He fell silent as a group of people rounded the corner into the street. They were all probably in their twenties, mostly male. I couldn't really put a finger on it, maybe it was the camo pants, but they all had a rough look to them. They were clearly Team Rocket members. We started backpedaling. We passed a small side alley and slid into it. Dylan and I lingered for a moment to eyeball our assumed adversaries and then disappeared down the alley as well.

We were about to examine our surroundings and options when we heard someone yell, "Hey! Hey you!"

"Shit!" I shoved Vanessa and David who were in front of me. "Run!"

There wasn't much room to run. Twenty feet down the alley was a fence of wooden planks. They were easily eight or nine feet tall. I swore under my breath and bent down low to lace my fingers together. Dylan echoed both my curse and my movements. Vanessa hesitated but David pushed her forward into Dylan and my waiting grips. We straightened up and she scrambled over the fence. We lowered and David stepped up. We got him over just as quickly. Dylan bent back down to make a step for me. At any other time, I would've put up a fight about not being the last to protect my manhood but this wasn't any other time. Once I was half over the fence, I swung around and held out my arms to Dylan. The fence dug into my ribs as I braced my feet against the fence to help my friend over. I looked to the end of the alley as he was half over. The Rocket group was rounding the corner. One of them made eye contact with me.

"Oh shit!" I grabbed Dylan's belt and yanked him down onto my side of the fence. Luckily there were several bags of garbage awaiting us at the bottom. We weren't hurt but we didn't smell great. Just like in the movies. I made myself a promise that if we lived, I would go back to tell Anna that yeah, it was kind of like an action movie.

Our feet pounded the pavement as we cleared the alley. There was a moment of hesitation at the street juncture. Grabbing Vanessa's hand, David took off to our left. Almost immediately we were back in the big main street. We didn't even have to stop to discuss how that was trouble. I looked to the gap in the trees. It was crawling with people that looked like they didn't want us to pass through. We ran. An empty side street beckoned and we didn't disappoint. This one didn't have a fence in it but that didn't matter. David found an open door and we raced through what turned out to be someone's home. I could hear voices from behind me as we burst out the back door.

"Come on!" Dylan grabbed my sleeve when I had stopped to look back. We had put some distance between ourselves and our pursuers but they were still back there.

We found ourselves facing yet another identical city block. A small alley cut down it and we followed it through. We weaved through trash cans, knocking some of them over in an attempt to slow pursuit. When we emptied out the other end the sun was now in our eyes. Time was running short.

"Where are we going?" I gasped. I was used to lots of walking now but not running.

"The one place they'll never look," David said, hands on his hips. When I gave him a quizzical look he pointed down he street to our right. I shielded my eyes from the sun and followed his point.

"The Oak Building?"

"They'll never see it coming." He started running again.

As we got closer, I was surprised that Professor Oak would ever own a building that looked like this. It was pretty gaudy but then again, it had burned down and there's no telling if this is what it started out looking like. Big and white with thick columns lining the front entrance. A slanted black roof hung low over the walls. I spotted at least two other doors as we raced up the lawn. Luckily, the front door was unlocked. Although the floors were lined with shiny black tile and the white walls gleamed, it had a sense of sterility about it. Two curving staircases led to a railed balcony and to what looked like to me, living quarters.

"This way!" Dylan said over his shoulder.

He charged through the door between the two staircases. I was right on his heels with the others right behind us. The room we came into was brilliantly white. Lining the walls were laptop computers, beakers of chemicals and various machines. One machine looked like a miniature pokemon healing machine. Dylan hesitated for just a moment and then headed for the door at the end of the room. This time he quietly opened the door and slipped through. I waited until he waved us through before following. We passed through three more similar rooms until we were deep into the building.

"What is this place?" Vanessa asked as she bent over trying to catch her breath.

It was a good question. The room was a long rectangle. Along one long wall was several desktop computers, each of them connected to two different types of scanners and a microscope. In the middle of the room was a long metal table that was currently bare. The far ends had doors and the other long wall was lined with books. Not just books I realized after closer inspection, but all sorts of literature. There books from all era of time. Some of them I was afraid to touch because they looked so old. Opening a row of drawers along the bottom revealed numerous manuscripts, papers and old pieces of parchment.

"Holy shit," I breathed as something dawned on me. "This is all pokemon research. Look at this ancient stuff! There's a treasure-trove of material here!"

David and Vanessa each moved to a computer to see if they could even get into it. Dylan headed for a computer but then stopped. He reached for a small cloth bag on the counter that I hadn't noticed at first. Grabbing the bag, he loosened the drawstrings and peered inside. He dug inside and tossed me something out of it. I caught it softly with two hands and examined it.

"Is this a fire stone?" I asked.

It was a small golden stone, maybe three inches long and an inch and a half wide. Inside there was an orange flame that despite not flickering, looked like it could emit heat. Despite looking legitimate, something about it seemed off.

"There's a bunch in here," Dylan said, pulling out a few others. "All the different elemental stones. One of each but they aren't real."

"Huh?"

"They're too small." He flipped one around between his fingers. "Real evolutionary stones are probably at least twice this size. They feel real though."

I lowered my arm to my side and felt a strange tingling in my hand. Raising it back up, it went away. When I put it back down it returned. Frowning, I looked down at the stone. I only got the tingling feeling when it was next to the first poke ball on my belt; Charmeleon's ball. There was a sound outside the door we had come in and I quickly slipped the stone into my pocket. At first we didn't move. Then we all slipped underneath tables. None of us believed we would be hidden there but it was something. Time ticked by slowly. Eventually whatever was out there passed.

"Can you actually access anything on there?" Dylan asked when David and Vanessa got back on the computers.

"Can I access stuff? Yeah," David replied as he clicked around with his mouse. "Some stuff is password-protected but I don't think they ever thought someone not with Team Rocket would get in here so most of it isn't. Can I understand it is a whole other question." He scrolled down the document he had opened. "This is all gibberish to me. I think it's some kind of formula research or something. Science was never my thing."

"What about you?" I asked Vanessa. She was typing away.

She shook her head. "This whole computer is locked down. I was trying to guess a password but it's hopeless."

"Can we make copies of any of this shit?" Dylan asked, peering over David's shoulder. "Copy it onto a CD or something? If we get out of here, Team Rocket will either wipe all these or get them out of here."

"Find me a CD and then we can talk." David continued to click. Then he smacked himself in the forehead. "Of course! The internet! They have the internet!"

I moved closer and looked over the shoulder that Dylan wasn't. David had pulled up a web browser and logged into an email account. He began attaching as many files as he could to the email. A smile came across my face as I gave him an email address to send it to: Professor Oak. When he had loaded as many files on as he could, David triumphantly hit the send button. Nothing happened. He clicked it again with the same results. "What the hell?"

A window appeared on his screen. He read it and swore. "They have some kind of firewall," he snarled. "I can't send anything out except through pre-approved channels. Of course, we don't know how to access them. Dammit!"

"Back to looking for a CD," Dylan grumbled. When I started going through the equipment on the counter, he slipped through the back door to see what he could find. It wasn't long before he returned with a handful of them. The first few turned out to already be full so I slipped those into my backpack while David started burning anything and everything he could fit onto the discs.

"We can't stay here forever," I said while we waited for a disc to burn. "Eventually someone's going to come in here."

"Once these discs are done we should jet," David agreed, checking the progress. "Do we keep moving through the house?"

Dylan shook his head. "Too risky. We need to get out of here entirely."

"Yeah sure, but to where?"

"The trees," I said. "We head for the trees. Maybe we find a gap. Or if nothing else, we move towards an exit and-" a cracking noise cut me off. I looked down to see Vanessa crouched down in front of the computer she had been working on. The front had been popped off and she was tugging at something. She fell over backwards as it came free.

"There," Vanessa said with a grin, standing. "That's easier than making copies." She had the hard drive in her hand. She tucked in into her backpack. "Aren't you done yet?"

"Smartass," David grumbled under his breath. He popped the CD drive open after another few minutes and retrieved his last disc. "Do we take anything else?"

It was an obvious question with an even more obvious answer. David pried the front off the third computer and yanked the hard drive out of it. Dylan secured his bag of stones in his backpack and then joined me at the book wall. We had to be selective because the books were much heavier than computer parts. Anything that appeared to be very old but stable enough to transport was taken. We also grabbed any manuscripts that looked really new in case the Rockets had made some remarkable discovery that they hadn't shared with anyone. When we slipped out of the room, our backpacks were all significantly heavier than when we went in.

Dylan lead us through the rear door in the room. We had decided that going out the back if we could would be preferable to just strolling out the front door. A few times we wandered into rooms that only had one door and had to backtrack. As far into the house as we were, it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep our bearings. We just had to keep going in the same direction and pray it was towards the rear of the house. Labs and study areas began giving way to rooms that looked more like rooms you'd find in a fancy home.

"Hey, hold up," I said, grabbing Dylan's sleeve. "They're falling behind."

David and Vanessa had slowed up for a moment to look at a random statue of something. Dylan either ignored me or just didn't care because he reached for the door that he was standing in front of.

It swung open before he touched it.

Standing in the door frame was a guy about our height. He had long black hair that touched his shoulders. His dark gray shirt had a big red block R on it. His emotions changed almost in slow-motion. First it was happy. Then surprised. Then angry. Then pained as Dylan punched him as hard as he could in the stomach. The guy keeled over. I stepped back and slammed the door on his head. There was a satisfying crack as it struck and then I heard him slump.

"Other way!" Dylan spun around just as David and Vanessa arrived. "Other way! Go go go!"

This time David lead our mad charge through the Oak building. He backtracked our path for a few rooms and then took us in a whole new direction. Science mixed with wealth as we alternated research and living rooms. David made a sharp turn that I missed, slipping on the slick wooden floor. When I got back up I realized that he had seen a window. An alarm began to blare.

"Fuck!" Dylan yelled over the high-pitched screech. "They're on to us! We need to go now!"

David responded by shoving the window open and punching out the screen. He threw his backpack out and then dove after it. One by one we repeated his actions until we were all racing across the grass of the lawn. We hadn't quite come out the back of the house; our window exit had been on side of the building. It didn't particularly matter to us at that point, we were just glad to be out. We reached the thick trees and began weaving our way in. The people in the diner had been right: after about fifteen feet in, the trees became too thick to pass through.

"Son of a bitch!" I punched a tree and immediately regretted it. I sucked a bloody knuckle and asked, "Now what?"

"Head south!" Dylan called putting actions to words. "Maybe we can get back to the diner or something!"

Turning south, we began moving between the trees again. We slowed our pace drastically despite our desperation but we knew that a trail of shaking trees would be easy to follow. After fifteen minutes we came to a complete stop to listen for any trailers. There was no obvious sign of any pursuers, human or pokemon. Satisfied we were safe for the time being we kept moving.

The line of trees lead us back into town on the opposite side of Pallet Town than the diner. The forest made a turn where they met up with the other side of the tree barrier to form the southern exit corridor. The exit was swarming with Team Rocket members. They seemed to be looking for someone but they clearly didn't know who. The alarm from the house could be faintly heard so maybe the house hadn't communicated anything to them yet.

"Think we could get past them?" Vanessa whispered.

"Don't think so." I pointed ahead of us. "The trees look like they get really thick near the bend so they'd force us closer to the road. We might be able to sneak past but not when they're expecting someone to try."

She was about to say something else when the squawk of a radio cut her off. One of the Rockets pulled a walkie-talkie from his belt and held it up to his ear. Other than the noises it gave off in between transmissions we couldn't hear anything. The conversation went on for a good few minutes. When it was over, the guy who appeared to be the leader but the walkie-talkie back on his belt and made a circular motion with one hand. The others gathered around him for a few minutes and then dispersed. They moved into a single file line stretching all the way into the trees on both sides of the exit path.

"Oh that is not good," Dylan groaned. "Let's try for the diner."

We headed back the way we had come for a bit before emerging from the trees. No Rockets were immediately visible. Sticking to the shadows, we rode the edges of the buildings to the main street. Patrols were moving around on the streets but in strange ways. They weren't kicking in doors or anything. It looked more like they were trying to position themselves for something. Speakers crackled from somewhere unseen as we withdrew into a side alley.

"Attention intruders," a crisp female voice began. "You haven taken things that do not belong to you. This is not a transgression that is taken lightly. You _will _return these items to us. You will be given six hours to return these items to the representatives in the center of town. At that time, you will be given a choice: membership offers will be extended to both of you. Or you may opt to challenge the representatives in a tag-team six-on-six pokemon battle for both your freedom and that of this town. If you challenge, the membership offers will be revoked. As a show of good faith, you will not be hunted during this time. However, the exits will still be monitored. You have six hours." The speakers crackled again.

"Oh shit," I moaned as we retreated back into the trees. "That is not good."

"At least it's an easy decision," Dylan said, slumping down against a tree. "We've got to fight."

"They won't fight fair," Vanessa warned. "Even if we win, they'll just take everything."

"Still though," I said. "Who fights? I want to."

Dylan, David and Vanessa all said they did as well.

"Well how do we solve this?"

"Wait, hold on." David held up a hand like he was trying to chase a thought. "Something she said was weird." He pause and thought for a moment. "Both. She said 'both of you'. Why did she say that? There's four of us." His eyes lit up and looked right at me. "It has to be you. And Dylan."

"What?" Vanessa protested. "Why?"

"I don't like it either but think about it," David sighed. "She said both of you. They were seen by the guy in the building. They were seen climbing over the fence. Team Rocket thinks there's only the two of them!"

"So that gives us an advantage then," Dylan said, quickly rising to his feet. "We can assume that they aren't going to play fair, so why do we have to? We have two trainers that they aren't accounting for!"

"So how do we take advantage of that?" I asked. "Position you guys on the roofs?"

David's face lit up. "That's a good idea!"

"I was joking."

"No, think about it! If they attack after the match not only would they not be expecting an attack but never an attack from a higher altitude! It'd be perfect!"

"You guys figure that out then," Dylan interrupted. "Tim and I need to plan our pokemon."

We separated into our groups and began discussing.

"What are you thinking?" I asked.

"Elekid, Gyarados and Croagunk," he answered instantly.

"Seriously?" I asked. "I guess that'd compliment my team of Charmeleon, Steelix and Grovyle."

Dylan shook his head. "I think you shouldn't use Grovyle."

I frowned. "Why not? It's one of my strongest pokemon."

"You remember what they said in the diner? Lot's of darks and poisons. Grovyle would be weak against poison. I think you should use Heracross instead."

"Heracross?" I echoed. "Wouldn't be good against poisons though."

"That's what Steelix is for," Dylan explained. "I really think Heracross would be a better choice."

I hesitated for a minute. He had a point, I guess. "Ok, fine. I'll use Heracross instead. I guess that covers as many types as possible."

David and Vanessa announced they had their plan. They were going to try and spread the word amongst the townspeople before ascending to the tops of the buildings. David encouraged us to wait at least an hour or so before making our appearance. We made them promise that if things went badly, even after they joined in, that one of them would make a break for freedom. They agreed and then we transferred a lot of our stolen material to their backpacks just in case.

Time ticked by slowly. I tried to relax and get some rest but there was no realistic chance of them. We spoke very little except when possible attack combinations came to mind. When our time finally expired, we had a few good combos worked out.

"You ready for this?" Dylan asked as we stepped out of the trees.

"As ready as I'll ever be. Let's do this."

We marched down the side street until it met the main street. Turning down it towards the south, we say the "representatives" we were to meet. It was two guys probably ten or so years older than us. Both had scruffy black hair and a light stubble. They could've been brothers. The easiest way to tell them apart was one had on a black shirt on and one had a white shirt on.

"So," asked the one in black in a slight Jersey accent and I realized he was the one who had almost found us above the diner. "You got our stuff?"

"Yeah," Dylan replied. "You can't have it?"

"You sure?" asked the white shirt.

"Positive," I sneered, forcing myself not to look up into the sky for my other friends. I dug my feet into the dirt road. "Bring it on."

Door and windows began opening. People began pouring out of the buildings and lining the streets. The citizens of Pallet Town had turned out to observe their latest chance at freedom. They made sure to stay in the side roads out of the way which I appreciated.

"You asked for it," Black shirt said, hoisting a poke ball. "It's game over for you kids."


	34. Chapter 34

"This may be one of our worse ideas," I said quietly as I touched a poke ball on my belt. "Probably near the top of that list, if not at the top.."

To my surprise, Dylan smiled. "You sure?" he asked. "We get to test ourselves in the ultimate pressure situation. In the movies that always brings out the best in trainers. Besides, have you forgotten the time we almost burned my house down trying to make chips?"

"Ok fine. We can reassess where it ranks after it's over." I hoisted a poke ball, enlarged it and addressed the others who didn't appear to be much for banter. "Ready?"

They nodded and we all sent our pokemon out for battle. No, not battle. War.

Charmeleon appeared in front of me, flanked by Dylan's elekid. Across from them was one familiar pokemon, one unfamiliar. It was purple and somehow reminded me of a jet plane, mostly in the tail. Two black eyes were beneath large growths that looked similar to jet engines. Single claws finished off long arms that had sharp looking fins along the forearms. Next to it stood our familiar herald of doom, Houndoom.

"What is that?" Dylan said, not bothering to even indicate the pokemon.

I gave a slight shake of my head and said, "Not sure. Has the look of a dragon to it. Check the pokedex?"

"It'll look weak," he responded. "We don't want to show weakness."

"Yeah but we also don't want to blindly flinging attacks…"

Dylan's reply was cut off by Black yelling, "Gabite, Dragon pulse!"

"Definitely dragon!" Dylan decided.

A mouth of sharp teeth was revealed as a light green orb grew into existence. We had only a moment to marvel at it before it blasted out at our pokemon. They dove to separate sides and the blast passed between then and narrowly missed Dylan and me before exploding behind us. Dylan used the explosion as a distraction to get his pokedex out, clearly no longer concerned about showing weakness. He hissed for me to cover him.

"Charmeleon, flamethrower!" I roared.

"You too Houndoom!" White countered.

The two pillars of flame met in the middle of our makeshift battlefield. They detonated in a wild inferno and I was afraid we were actually going to set the surrounding buildings on fire. Fire rained down but luckily nothing went up in a blaze. The Rocket's seemed rather unfocused with their aims and I had a feeling it'd only be a matter of time before we had a damaged building. Or damaged trainers

"It's a ground and dragon type!" Dylan yelled to me over the roar of the fire. He lowered his voice and said, "Only weak to ice and dragon attacks but don't use yours yet. Wait until for my signal." Then he raised his voice back up to almost a yell. "Cover me! I can take out Houndoom! Elekid, low kick!"

I had no idea what he was up to. Charmeleon had the only attack between the two pokemon on the field that could do any damage and Dylan wanted me to hold off with it and attack Houndoom? And what was his signal? If the small electric pokemon hadn't already been charging in I probably would've resisted the plan. Instead I ordered for another flamethrower, this time aimed at Gabite.

"Houndoom, dark pulse!"

The dark-type pokemon reared back and then when it lunged forward, a beam of purple and black blasted out. It was almost like a giant scribble of rings. Elekid ducked underneath it and Charmeleon managed to avoid the impact but was tossed aside by the resulting explosion.

"Holy shit!" I yelled. "They've got some serious firepower!"

"Just keep me covered!" Dylan replied, a little louder than necessary. "Just need to get close!"

He clearly had some kind of ruse going. I only wished I knew what.

"Gabite, use dragon claw!" Black shouted. "Wipe that stupid elekid off the map!"

The dragon pokemon was incredibly fast. With glowing green claws, it appeared in front of Elekid. A single swipe Elekid flying backwards. Gabite was hot on it's heels. I threw up an arm as I readied an order but then I saw a gleam in Dylan's eye.

"Ice punch!" he commanded, throwing a punch of his own for emphasis.

Too late did Gabite and it's trainer realize their folly. Elekid rolled through it's fall and came up with icy mists swirling around it's stubby hand. It planted the super effective punch right in Gabite's stomach. The dragon pokemon staggered back and seemed to take a surprising amount of damage.

I realized, or at least hoped, this was Dylan's signal. I amended my order to "Dragon rage!"

Dylan's plan had worked and now it had made perfect sense once I was reminded that Elekid had use of ice punch. The crackling orb of dragon rage detonated against Gabite and sent it flying backwards. It managed to get off a dragon pulse as Charmeleon fired another dragon rage. The two attacks slammed into one another and to my surprise, detonated. Dragon pulse was essentially an upgraded dragon rage, probably twice as strong at least, it should've wiped out my pokemon's attack.

Interesting…

"Tim!" Dylan screamed, interrupting my thoughts. "Houndoom!"

The dark pokemon suddenly loomed over Elekid with a fire fang ready. There was no chance for me to intercept the attack and suddenly Elekid was lost in the flames.

"Charmeleon, get in there with slash!"

Gabite joined the fray as well. Charmeleon danced between the two pokemon, claws extended and glowing white. Streaks of white and green from claws was punctuated by the occasional burst of fire from fire fang. A dragon claw slashed across Charmeleon, pushing it outside the fray. Then a blast of lighting from a recovered Elekid ejected Houndoom as well.

For a brief moment, I allowed myself to be amused by the little, round elekid sneering up at the dragon pokemon covered in sharp fins that was at least twice it's size.

"Blast that charmeleon Houndoom!" White screamed. "Dark pulse!"

"Flamethrower!"

The mess of black slammed into the gout of fire. The two attacks battle for supremacy for a handful of seconds before exploding in a black and orange fireball that reminded me of Halloween. I took a gamble and yelled "Flamethrower!" After the blast of fire pierced the fireball, I was rewarded with the sound of a pained houndoom.

"Ice punch!"

I managed to turn just in time to see Elekid leap over a shadowy claw that had formed at the end of Gabite's arm. In the air, Elekid pulled back both arms behind it's head as the icy mist returned. It slammed them both forward at once, catching Gabite in both eyes. There was a heartbeat when nothing happened. Then a crust of ice grew over the body of the dragon. When it encompassed the entire pokemon, Elekid shoved it over. The ice shattered to reveal a knocked-out Gabite.

"I'll show you!" White yelled as Black collected his downed pokemon. "Fire fang!"

Houndoom was halfway there when it slammed on it's breaks. Elekid had erupted in white light. It grew taller and it's limbs more filled out. The prongs on it's head shrunk and slid further out on the head that had clearly separated from the body. A tail sprouted and flicked through the air. When the light faded, Elekid had become Electabuzz.

Black hesitated for a moment before sending his next pokemon out. When he did, I recognized it instantly. The two conjoined, floating purple balls with faces could only by a poisonous weezing.

"Guess we got some good info," I muttered, thinking back to the people in the diner who had said the Rockets liked to use poison and dark types. "Charmeleon, flamethrower!"

Dylan didn't hesitate to take advantage of his pokemon's new strength. "Thunderbolt!"

_-Intermission-_

_From his vantage point on the top of the diner, David could see over the shoulders of the Team Rocket members. It was a pretty good seat as far as he was concerned. Although, he would've really rather been down there battling but he did what had to be done._

_He turned and looked south to see if he could get a glimpse of Vanessa. Despite their initial plan for them both to lie in wait for the inevitable trap the Rockets would spring, they had changed plans. David and Vanessa had realized that they were going to need to get law enforcement here somehow so they decided that one of them had to sneak out of the town during the battle. David's team was better suited for a ranged attack so it was up to Vanessa to sneak out. He looked to the trees she had to be navigating but saw no sign of her at all. Good. They had debated smashing their way through them but there was no way they could do that without attracting attention. It probably should've been something they considered earlier but hindsight was twenty-twenty._

_He turned back to the battle as it took a surprising turn: the weezing did not have a typical move-set for a poison pokemon. It had already used flamethrower and thunderbolt during it's short time on the field. It made the poison pokemon a very versatile battler. The Rockets clearly had a variety of TM's to use on their pokemon but moves weren't everything._

_David had seen Tim look surprised when his charmeleon's dragon rage had equaled the gabite's dragon pulse in power. David too had been surprised. It took him until Charmeleon's flamethrower had equaled Houndoom's dark pulse in power for him to figure it out. Sure these Rockets had some powerful moves at their disposal, but not powerful pokemon. _

_David remembered fondly working and training with all his pokemon just like Tim and Dylan had. He hypothesized that these Rockets had no love for their pokemon outside of them as tools and had spent little time training them outside of teaching them new moves. Their pokemon had no extra motivation to excel in battle and more importantly, lacked the experience and conditioning that Tim and Dylan's pokemon had. Their strength more than equaled out the power of the special attacks. The balance had shifted to his friends' side before the battle had even started. That was the theory anyway and David knew that theory only counted for so much in battle._

_Feeling for his poke balls, David set out arranging them in the order he would release them when the trap eventually sprung. With the evolution of Elekid further tipping the balance, David had no doubt that the net was closing. He would be ready for it._

_-End Intermission-_

I gritted my teeth as Dylan and I dove out of the way of a flamethrower. I could smell burned hair. Better burned hair than burned flesh I suppose.

Battling Team Rocket was like nothing I had experienced before. Half their attacks were more likely to take out me and Dylan than our pokemon and probably designed that way. Dylan had nearly been crushed by Weezing using rollout and I narrowly avoiding probable death by dark pulse.

"Can we take out that houndoom?" I called over the din of battle. "I can bring in reinforcements but their weak to fire!"

"Let's do it! Thunder rage!" Was his reply. "Electabuzz, thunderbolt!"

"Dragon rage!"

This was one of the preplanned strategies we had worked out. Thunderbolt swept up the dragon rage in it's current and carried it out in front. Dragon rage exploded on Houndoom and then thunderbolt blasted it off it's feet. The four-legged pokemon skidded to a stop, unmoving.

"You'll pay for that!" White yelled as he changed pokemon. "Go Arbok!"

With dual poison pokemon on the field, it made my choice of replacements for the weary Charmeleon easy. Dylan too was recalling Electabuzz from the field. I looked over to him and asked, "Twin towers?"

He grinned and nodded. We both heaved our poke balls into the arena. Arbok and Weezing shrank back as our two pokemon grew into existence. Steelix and Gyarados were intimidating pokemon on their own but together, they were downright terrifying.

"Flamethrower!" Black yelled, cutting through my idea that they'd be so scared they'd forget to battle.

"Intercept!" Dylan ordered.

Gyarados swirled over in front of Steelix and took the brunt of the flamethrower and felt none the worse for it. Black called off his flamethrower and swapped it for a thunderbolt. Steelix snaked forward to block this attack at my command. The lightning crackled around the steel pokemon and then disappeared into nothingness. So far, this was working out pretty well.

"Fire fang!" White yelled.

"Thunderbolt!" Black yelled.

"Shit!" I yelled. "Rock tomb!"

Steelix slammed it's tail into the ground and a massive stone spire erupted out of the road. Arbok and it's mouth of fire crashed into it, the slithered around it. The thunderbolt of Weezing blew apart the rock tomb. The shards bounced harmlessly off my pokemon's metal skin.

"Dragon rage!" Dylan roared.

Gyarados echoed Dylan's roar as it soared above Steelix. It fired the crackling orb from it's gaping mouth and sent the two poison pokemon scrambling. Arbok responded with a gunk shot, spraying an inky like substance all over Gyarados before Steelix could intercept it.

"Rollout!" Black ordered. "Knock that gyarados out of the sky!"

"Oh no you don't!" I was ready for this. "Iron tail!"

Steelix swung it's body around. The glowing tail came down hard on the rolling weezing. Surprisingly it didn't smash it completely flat. After being knocked aside, Weezing came out of it's spin and resumed floating. It tried another flamethrower but I had Steelix block it with another rock tomb.

Between the two lengthy pokemon and now the rock tombs, our field was beginning to become difficult to navigate. Gyarados and Steelix kept grazing each other as they moved around. They weren't doing each other any damage but it was still distracting to everyone involved. Our twin towers idea wasn't looking as good now as it had earlier.

"Hope there's a good road crew here!" I announced. "Dig!"

With a flash of steel, Steelix disappeared underground. Now Gyarados had a lot more room to maneuver. Dylan used the opportunity to launch an aqua tail attack. Rings of water encircled Gyarados' long tail and it swung it at Weezing. The poison pokemon crashed right through the front door of a building. It floated back outside after a moment.

"Poison fang!" White yelled.

"Thunderbolt!" Black yelled.

"Now!" I stomped a foot on the ground.

Steelix exploded out of the ground like a geyser. Weezing and Arbok were sent flying apart, along with a good section of the road. I couldn't see if it had been knocked out or not but Black recalled his weezing. What he sent out was something I might've seen in a messed up dream. It was green and darker green spikes ran up it's center and down each rounded arm and leg. On it's head was a feature that looked almost like a pyramid was spikey corners. Below it were piercing yellow and black eyes and a mouth that appeared to be composed of a series of holes on it's face. My pokedex identified it as a cacturne.

"Steelix, return!" I had no doubt that Steelix would be more than able to hold it's own against the grass- and dark-typed pokemon but I had a better idea. "Heracross, go!"

Dylan decided I had the right idea. "Gyarados, return! Go Croagunk!"

When the second fighting pokemon appeared, White called back his arbok. In it's place appeared a dark blue flying pokemon. A big tuft of white feathers sat below it's head which was topped by plumage that looked almost like a fedora, giving it an old-timey gangster look. Croagunk gave a small shudder as the new pokemon flapped it's wings and showed the red underneath.

"Cacturne, pin missile!" Black shouted.

"Move!" Both Dylan and I ordered.

Croagunk back flipped away from the first few pin missiles before breaking out into a run. Heracross took to the air where it and the pokemon identified as Honchkrow by it's trainer began trading barbs. The flitted around the sky testing each other out.

"Another pin missile!"

"Sucker punch!" Dylan yelled.

In the blink of an eye Croagunk was standing before Cacturne, it's fist buried in the grass pokemon's belly. Croagunk removed the arm and then swung it around in the ordered poison jab. The poison pokemon drove it's glowing purple hand up in an uppercut motion. Cacturne was thrown backwards off it's feet.

"Aerial ace!" I shouted and Heracross began picking up speed.

"Shadow ball!" White countered.

Honchkrow opened it's orange beak and the inky black ball shot out. White energy now bleeding form it's horn, Heracross made an arcing turn around the incoming attack. The shadow ball blew apart someone's front steps. Heracross righting it's path, built it's speed back up and plowed through the dark- and flying-type pokemon.

"Switch!" Dylan shouted. "Croagunk, use poison sting on Honchkrow!"

Cacturne was just up on it's feet and I saw the opportunity to do some serious damage to it. "Heracross, use close combat!"

By the time Cacturne had located it's attacker it was too late. Heracross caught it across the face with a stiff flying kick. It whirled around drove a downward punch into Cacturne's head. Cacturne fell but Heracross drove a foot so hard into it's belly that it bounced into the air. The bug pokemon clasped it's hands together up high and drove them down into the small of the dark pokemon's back. Cacturne left an impact crater. Then it blew Heracross away with a pin missile barrage. The a batch of screeching missiles carried Heracross into the sky before arcing back down. Heracross was buried in the explosion. In all the flashing lights, I saw the bug pokemon roll out of the explosions. The bug typing made the attack less effective but my pokemon had still felt it.

"Croagunk, return!" Dylan commanded. "Electabuzz, go!"

I raised an eyebrow but kept my comments to myself. Sure Electabuzz had evolved and gained more power with it's new form but it was also burning through it rapidly. The electric pokemon had used up a lot of energy fighting Gabite already. I had serious questions about it's reserves.

Our opponents both realized that their pokemon were at serious type advantages. Cacturne was replaced with Weezing; Honchkrow was replaced with Arbok. Dylan opted to stick with his electabuzz and I swapped Heracross for Steelix. It seemed like a good move until a flamethrower washed over my pokemon. The steel pokemon roared and squirmed away.

Things were starting to get interesting now.

_-Intermission 2-_

_Vanessa had started to make her run for freedom as soon as the battle had begun. The second she had heard poke balls pop open she had slipped into the eastern trees. She wasn't thrilled that she was abandoning her friends to the Rockets but she understood why she had to do it._

_Keeping at least ten feet in, she slowly made her way towards the southern opening. Weaving between the closely grown trees she made her way towards the southern opening. She had to tread softly because the entire town was abuzz with activity. When she reached the southern entrance/exit, she paused at the squawk of a walkie-talkie. _

"_Yeah?" she heard a voice say._

_She was so focused on staying quiet she hadn't noticed the group that was patrolling the opening. It was a collection of rough looking men and women standing around a pickup truck, most of them a little rough looking. All of them had that air about them that they wouldn't think twice about doing serious harm to someone. One of them was standing apart from the others, a walkie-talkie to his mouth._

"_Seriously?" the man with the walkie-talkie asked. "There's a chance? Who are these guys?"_

_Vanessa couldn't hear the response._

"_Guess you're right. Should we move?"_

_Another inaudible response._

"_Right. We'll get into position." A pause. "Right. We'll be ready to strike."_

_There was some mumbling among the group and then the man turned to address them. "Ok, we've got to move. Apparently these new guys are pretty good. The group at the other end is going to start securing all the computers and we're going to move to take them out if we need to. The boss thinks we're probably going to have to abandon this place no matter what happens so be ready to roll. Jessie and James, you guys stay here and guard the exit in case they somehow get around us."_

_Vanessa bit her lip. Tim and Dylan were going to be in a lot of trouble no matter the outcome of their battle. If she was going to get help, she was going to have to get it quickly for it to be of any use. She had no idea how long the battle would last. It might be almost over for all she knew. A plan began to form in her mind as she watched the bulk of the group abandon the pickup truck. The only two people left were a man with longish blue hair and a girl with really long red hair in a pony tail. Neither of them was looking in her direction._

"_Flaaffy, I need your help!" she whispered, praying that the light and noise of the opening poke ball wouldn't attract attention. It didn't._

_The pink bipedal pokemon looked up at her. It's fluffy wool around it's head and neck moved ever so slightly in the breeze. The blue orb at the end of it's tail caught the light as it wagged happily. _

"_Ok, here's what we're going to do…" Vanessa said and then explained her plan._

_The two of them crept forward, careful to avoid making any noise at all. It was tedious going but they made it to within ten feet of the sentries. Vanessa pointed at the blue-hair man. There was a crackle of electricity and then a small blast of lightning lanced out from Flaaffy's ears. It struck the man in the small of the back and pitched him forward. The girl managed to get turned around before Flaaffy repeated the action on her. She landed on top of the blue-haired guy. _

_Sparks crackled around the downed bodies. They moaned and Vanessa sighed with relief. She hadn't wanted to kill them._

"_Come on Flaaffy!" she called as she yanked the door of the truck open. The pokemon scrambled in as well._

_It was a stroke of luck that the keys were still in the ignition. Vanessa twisted the key and then threw the car into gear. With a spray of dirt, she flipped directions and roared off down the road. In her rearview mirror she saw no Rockets but off in the distance she saw a huge shape looming into the sky that had to be either Tim's Steelix or Dylan's Gyarados. Either way it probably wasn't good that they were using such powerful pokemon. She tightened her grip on the wheel and pushed the gas pedal to the floor._

_-End Intermission-_

"Steelix, iron tail!" I shouted, swiping my hand through the air.

Things had begun to get a little hairy. We had decided that we had to keep White's Honchkrow off the field. If it got too high into the air, it might spot David and then everything could go to hell. That meant Dylan had to keep his electabuzz on the field and I had to keep Heracross off the field. If the Rockets' pokemon had had normal move sets, it probably wouldn't have been a problem.

If if's and but's were candy and nuts…

Steelix slashed it's glowing tail through the flamethrower that was intent on roasting it. Black's weezing drifted backwards and managed to avoid the vicious steel-typed attack. The poison pokemon was by far the biggest thorn in our sides. It had a flamethrower that was super-effective against Steelix and Heracross. It had rollout that doubly effective against Charmeleon and Gyarados, the latter already weak against Weezing's thunderbolt as well. To top it all off, it's ability of levitate made it immune to the ground-typed attacks that would normally be super-effective against a poisonous pokemon. It was not a good situation.

"Electabuzz, thunderbolt!" Dylan tried for a quick strike.

White and his arbok were faster. It met the thunderbolt with a poison tail that managed to diffuse the electric attack. When the battle had begun, the Rockets were one-dimension battlers. They had learned quickly.

"Steelix, return!" I called. "Charmeleon, go!"

"Weezing, rollout!"

Almost like I knew it was coming. "Dragon rage!"

The crackling orb exploded against the rolling weezing. The connected koffings bounced away and tried to right themselves. Dylan was on top of it though. Electabuzz loomed above, fist and forearm glowing with thunder. The thunder punch sent the weezing spinning away. Charmeleon was ready and roasted it with a flamethrower.

"Keep it up!" I yelled both to my pokemon and Dylan. "We can pick them off one by one!"

Arbok slithered forward to intervene with a poison fang. Electabuzz rejected it with a thunderbolt as I commanded Charmeleon to switch to slash. Both our pokemon were breathing hard now. All of our pokemon had taken significant damage by this point. Sure we had taken out two of the Rocket pokemon by the tables could easily be turned.

"Ice punch!" Dylan yelled.

Electabuzz whirled around and charged Weezing. The poison pokemon tried to turn around and get a flamethrower off but Electabuzz was faster. A flash of glowing purple made me realized that Arbok was even faster. A poison tail took Electabuzz right off it's feet. When it crashed I could see that it was exhausted. All the damage it had received and all the energy it had expended were coming back to haunt it.

"Help Electabuzz Charmeleon!" I shouted. "Use dragon rage!"

Charmeleon launched it's attack but it was too slow. Arbok bit down with a fire fang and it and the electric pokemon were lost in the blast. I caught a glimpse of Arbok rising up once more with glowing purple fangs. When the explosion faded, Electabuzz wasn't moving.

"Electabuzz, no!" Dylan cried. Just like that, we were down a pokemon.

Dylan replaced his pokemon with Gyarados and we were back in business. It countered a thunderbolt attempt for Weezing with an ice fang and then sent the poison pokemon sailing with an aqua tail. It crashed through the front window of the diner.

It dawned on me at that moment that we were kind of making a mess of things. Several windows around us were shattered. We had actually caused structural damage to a couple buildings. Steelix had all but ruined the road by using dig. But I guess the town would have to forgive us if we freed them.

"Dragon rage!"

Weezing had just emerged from the diner. The explosion did further damage to the diner and sent the weezing crashing down. Dylan ordered Gyarados to follow up with an ice fang. The two jets of ice froze the pokemon solid. Weezing was motionless inside a giant chunk of ice, not defeated but momentarily out of the picture.

Time to make it permanently out of the picture. "Flamethrower!"

Arbok tried to block the flamethrower but it was too slow. The superheated ice detonated in a vicious explosion. The whole building shuddered. Arbok was tossed aside like a rag doll. When the fire faded, Weezing was facedown and not moving. With a snarl, Black swapped it for his cacturne.

Three down. Three to go.

"Charmeleon, return! Go Heracross!"

"Gyarados, return! Croagunk, let's go!"

"Arbok, return! Honchkrow, go!"

Just like that, the entire field had changed. Dylan and I had the upper hand ever so slightly with Heracross and Croagunk having seen little action so far and having more reserves to fall back on.

"Don't forget about David," I said, careful to keep my voice low. "We can't let that honchkrow notice him, wherever he is. Want me to take it?"

Before Dylan could respond, Black yelled "Pin missile!"

The darker green spikes on Cacturne glowed white. Then they all exploded with glowing, arrow-shaped missiles. The glowing projectiles streaked through the air at various angles and detonated whenever they hit. Heracross took to the sky to dodge but found itself darting around wildly as the missiles homed in on it. Croagunk tried to run but was quickly overtaken.

"Mud bomb!" Dylan shouted.

A stream of muddy balls began slowly pushing back the oncoming pin missiles. It wasn't an even exchange as Croagunk was working far harder than Cacturne. Croagunk dropped to one knee as it continued to exert a serious effort just to keep up it's attack.

"Little help here?" Dylan asked.

"Give me a minute!"

"Croagunk may not have a minute!"

Heracross was engaged in an aerial dogfight with Honchkrow. The two pokemon were chasing each other all over the sky like two fighter jets. Heracross was the faster of the two but the honchkrow was crafty and able to keep getting back behind my pokemon where it would launch shadow balls. Heracross, with no ranged attacks, was forced to try and close the gap to attack.

I cupped my hands around my mouth to amplify my voice. "Forget Honchkrow for a second! Help Croagunk! Close combat!"

I couldn't hear a response if Heracross gave one but it went into a steep dive. Cacturne seemed to sense the incoming pokemon and diverted some missiles towards it. Heracross banked left and right around them, leaving the hesitant to follow honchkrow in it's wake.

"Needle arms!" Black yelled. "Get that heracross!"

It was too late. Heracross closed it wings up and became a living cannon ball. It crashed into the cacturne horn first and drove it to the ground. Heracross rolled through the crash and came up swinging. The bug pokemon drove a straight right jab across Cacturne's face. It was followed by a flying knee to the side. Heracross charged forward and looped it's arms around Cacturne's waist from behind. My pokemon heaved it up into the air and fell backwards with it, suplexing it into the earth. It had rolled away to pile on the punches when Honchkrow swooped in and swatted it away with a wing attack.

"Hang in there!" I encouraged Heracross was it came up slowly on one knee. Close combat may deal a lot of damage but it really hurt my pokemon's special defense which Honchkrow had just exploited.

"Finish it off!" White ordered. "Brave bird!"

Croagunk ran to Heracross' defense but was met by Cacturne. The grass pokemon had a focus blast glowing between it's arms. Dylan's pokemon couldn't dodge fast enough and took the attack full force.

"Get out of there Heracross!" I screamed when I realized help wasn't coming.

Honchkrow had gone high into the sky and was now dropping fast. I took a step back as it exploded in flames, now looking like a meteorite. The fireball burst apart as Honchkrow opened it's wings and was now covered in a shimmering blue aura. I screamed for Heracross to move again but it wasn't fast enough. I lost sight of the two pokemon in the ensuing explosion until Honchkrow flew out, blue lighting crackling across it's body. Although I had to wait for the smoke to clear, I already knew that Heracross was done battling for the day.

"You did good," I told Heracross through it's poke ball after I recalled it. "Cacturne is on it's last legs and you made Honchkrow burn a lot of energy. We'll clean things up."

Steelix burst into existence and I enjoyed watching White panic. All of Honchkrow's attacks would only do reduced damage against Steelix. His arbok had fire fang which would be effective but the poison pokemon was also weak against Steelix's ground-attack. Black wasn't in much better shape. His only attack that would do serious damage was focus blast.

"Let's finish them off for Heracross!" I shouted to Steelix and got a roar in response. "Iron tail!"

Cacturne got off a quick focus blast but this time Dylan and Croagunk were ready. With a poison jab, Croagunk neutralized the focus blast leaving Steelix unimpeded in it's assault of Honchkrow. The flying pokemon tried to escape but Steelix surrounded it with it's massive bulk. Realizing that his pokemon couldn't escape, White tried to counterattack with a shadow ball. Steelix barely even flinched.

With a menacing roar, Steelix curled it's tail around and stabbed out at Honchkrow. Steelix slammed the tip of it's tail into Honchkrow and drove it into the ground. Deep into the ground. White actually had to move onto the battlefield to get his pokemon back it was jammed so far into the ground.

"And then there were two…" Dylan said with an edge to his voice. He was well aware of the serious advantage we had as he switched Croagunk for Gyarados. Sure the field was now crowded but our pokemon were resistant to almost all the attacks the Rockets could throw at us. From the looks on the Rockets' faces, I knew that they knew it as well.

I decided to uncluttered the field. "Dig!"

"Ice fang!" Dylan shouted, taking advantage of the opening.

"Gunk shot!"

"Dark pulse!"

The stream of sludge and wave of purple circles met the bolts of ice with equal force. The dual attack began slowly pushing Gyarados' attack back. Then Steelix struck. Like a cruise missile being launched it came flying out of the ground and Arbok, having been forced to remain still while attacking, took the full force of the attack. I never saw where Arbok landed but I did see a frost covered Cacturne lying in a heap.

"Well, well, well." I recalled Steelix and dusted my hands off. "It would seem that we win."

The two representatives from Team Rocket were so angry or maybe embarrassed that they were trembling.

"If I'm not mistaken and I don't think I am," Dylan picked up, examining his fingernails in an obnoxious manner once he recalled Gyarados, "that means you have to leave. So get moving."

White and Black both barked angry laughs.

People began emerging from the alleyways and from buildings that hadn't been damaged. Surprisingly, none of them looked happy for us. It quickly became apparent that we didn't know any of these people: they were all Rockets. No where to be seen were any of the townspeople that we had met before. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up like when someone's watching you from behind.

"My Spinarak-sense is tingling," Dylan muttered.

No more words needed to be said. We were surrounded by unfriendlies and all of them had poke balls in their hands. There was at least twenty or more of them. I stepped forward with my right foot, Dylan with his left and we swung around to be back-to-back. In theory, David and Vanessa were still out there to help us but we really had no idea if they were or had been captured. Or worse.

I flexed my fingers like a gunslinger in the Old West. "Just in case we don't make it out, I just wanted you to know that I regret nothing. It's been a blast."

Even though I couldn't see it, I knew Dylan was smiling. "Same here. Glad to know that if I die, it'll be fighting alongside a friend."

_If I die._

No one had the guts to mention that we could and quite possibly would meet our ends in the town we had accidentally stumbled upon not even a day ago. Until now when it was staring us in the face.

I looked around until I saw Black and when he met my eyes I simply said, "I'll see you in Hell."

Dylan and I threw all the poke balls we had.


	35. Chapter 35

Things quickly dissolved into chaos.

I had dumped Charmeleon and Steelix back onto the field, along with Pikachu, Grovyle, Marshtomp and Sandslash. Dylan had emptied his bench too by sending out Croconaw, Quilava, Dustox, Ivysaur and Gliscor to complement Gyarados and Croagunk. Even with all those pokemon in play we were still outnumbered.

I immediately regretted indiscriminately throwing poke balls. I hadn't realized it at first but I had thrown Igglybuff's ball as well. Igglybuff was in the middle of the road, a horrified look on it's face. It took a few tries but I eventually found the right poke ball and got it safely put away. Luckily Dylan hadn't made the same mistake and was already concentrating on our incoming foes.

Team Rocket unleashed all sorts of pokemon, some I recognized and some I didn't. I saw everything from a drapion to a gastrodon and from a gallade to a magnezone. And all of them were launching attacks at us.

Steelix lowered it's bulk to shield me from the assault. It howled in pain as attacks of all types pounded against it. Dragging it's tail along the ground, it herded Dylan, myself and our pokemon herd into an alley that the steel pokemon had no hope of fitting into. When the pokemon cried out in pain again, I had no choice but to recall it before it was done for.

"Pikachu, use thunderbolt!" I shouted over the din. "Blast as many of them as you can! Marshtomp, ice beam and same orders! Sandslash, focus blast! Charmeleon, flamethrower! Grovyle, energy ball!"

My pokemon began launching their attacks in a multicolored light show. Dylan issued orders at well. Everything from spinning leaves to a shimmering psychic attack joined in. Our offensive started out strong but the counterattack was mighty. Dylan and I dropped to our knees and covered our heads as the buildings we were hiding between shook. Bricks and mortar began to crumble and fall.

"We've got to move!" Dylan screamed as he recalled Gyarados. The big pokemon was the easiest way to know where we were. "We can't stay here! Come on!"

I made the universal follow me motion to my pokemon and we took off running. At the other end of the alley, a Rocket appeared. There was no hesitation on the part of Gliscor who leveled the man with a poison jab. We skidded around the corner, Charmeleon and Quilava bringing up the rear and launching fire attacks at the trailers.

There was a horrible noise and suddenly a huge yellow beam ruptured the side of the building closest to us. The entire building detonated. The explosion knocked me to the ground. Grovyle and Sandslash dove atop me in an attempt to keep me alive. Dustox had fluttered in front of Dylan and used protect to keep them safe for the moment.

Disintegrated concrete rolled through the air like a snowstorm, coating everything it touched. It was only when I tried to fight the ringing in my ears did I realize that I was screaming. I swiped at something warm on my forehead and my hand came back bloody. Blood was running down the side of my face. Nothing life-threatening as far as I could tell. Death was practically knocking at our doors now.

"Pikachu, thunderbolt!" I managed to get out when a skarmory soared around what remained of the falling building. Pikachu responded by letting loose a thunderbolt so powerful it slammed the skarmory through the wall of the next building.

Two rhydons and a rhyperior began flinging rubble aside as they advanced on us. Things were rapidly getting worse. Coming at us from opposite sides were groups of machops and machokes. We weren't going to be able to fight them all at once.

"Water pulse!" a voice shouted from somewhere above me.

A blue sphere of water slammed into the lead rhyperior. Then another into each rhydon. I looked at Dylan but he shook his head. Then I looked up. Standing at the top of the building next to the one that had been blow apart was David and his wartortle Vlad. His zubat screamed into the sky followed by his gyarados.

David jumped onto his gyarados' back and it brought him safely to the ground. When he got closer I could see that his face was pale. I supposed I couldn't blame him given that it could've very easily have been the building he was standing on that got blown up instead of the one next to him.

He said something but I pointed at my ears and shook my head.

Explosions went off around us and we got to running again. Duke, David's mankey, kicked in a door of a building and we charged after it inside. The flying pokemon circled around the building to draw attention away from us. Duke smashed open the door on the other side of the building and we emerged back into the main street. We could hardly see down the road now. The air was thick with dust and smoke. It took a moment to register that the trees around Pallet Town were on fire and it was spreading. The only advantage was that we couldn't been seen by our enemies that had to still be down the road somewhere. At least for the moment.

"Where's Vanessa?" I asked loudly as I tried to wipe more blood off my forehead.

David explained just as loudly their plan. "Hopefully she comes back soon. Otherwise we might have to hold them off for a while."

"Incoming!" Dylan bellowed.

Two big brown bodies with long green leaves flapping at their necks burst out of the smoke. The two tropius flew past us and began calling attention to our position.

"We've got no cover!" I yelled. "We need to move!"

"There's no cover anywhere!" David replied as our pokemon starting attacking the tropius. "There's just buildings and you saw how easily those go down!"

David and my pikachu managed to repel the two tropius before they could get off any powerful attacks. They flew away in a wide arc, clearly aiming to come around and attack again. I quickly lost sight of them in all the dust in the air.

"Follow me!" Dylan was already running. "I've got an idea! Sandslash, I need your assistance!"

Our group surged after Dylan. He took us to what I was pretty sure was the southern exit of the town. He conversed briefly with my sandslash. It nodded and Dylan moved away. Sandslash dove into the ground using dig. Dirt began to spray everywhere as the ground pokemon used rollout while it was just barely beneath the surface. Within a handful seconds, we had a trench about three feet deep across the exit. The rest of the pokemon joined Sandslash in the trench and took up defensive positions. The rest of the humans and myself took refuge in an extra deep part that Sandslash had just finished. We still had to squat but we were more or less out of the line of sight.

"Pretty clever," David admitted. "Now we just have to hold the line. We've got to be smart about it though. Thunder and Pikachu, you two are on anti-air pokemon. If it's flying, everyone else ignore it unless otherwise dictated." The two pikachu nodded.

I picked up on his train of thought. "Sandslash, Croagunk, and Duke, you guys stay idle unless someone gets within ten feet of the trench. Then you do what you have to to remove the threat."

"Gliscor and Al, you guys are recon." It was Dylan's turn now. "Get into the air and establish a small perimeter. Call out advancing forces. You're our eyes. Don't stray far. Dustox, you stay close. Any attack that can't be deflected by our attacks is your duty to block with protect. Once you can't manage to use protect any more, Vlad will take over that duty."

David nodded. "Right. Ranged attacks only. Spread out along the trench."

"Try not to bunch up elementally," I called after them. "Spread out our attack types!"

Gliscor and Al shot into the sky. Croagunk, Duke and Sandslash positioned themselves in front of me and my friends. Dustox darted nervously along the entire trench. David's gyarados which he still called Slappy moved with Dylan's gyarados to the back of the trench so they could launch their attacks without disrupting any of the other pokemon. I released Steelix back out to join them in the rear.

I was about to say something when I heard, "Gli! Gli-scor!"

At the far right of our defensive trench I saw a spray of razor leaves and an ice fang race out. Through the smoke and dust, two forms appeared. Gliscor's instructions hadn't been precise enough. Both attacks missed and the forms got closer and I could see they were both persians. Lenny the turtwig and Croconaw tried again and this time their aim was true.

Muffled voices sounded through the smoke. More voices joined them. Our location was now known. It had actually taken longer than I expected.

For the briefest of moments silence reigned. Then the sound of crunching gravel replaced it. I rose up slightly out of our trench and squinted at the dust cloud. I wiped away a drop of blood that was threatening to impede my vision. At first there was nothing. Then I saw them. Shadows in the dust coming our way. A lot of shadows. They began appearing in the air too.

The Rocket army advanced.

"Incoming!" I warned.

"Today is a good day to die," Dylan announced.

David's reply was cut off by the sound of fourteen pokemon attacking.

Fire scorched the land. Lightning streaked through the sky. Water raged through the battlefield. It was almost nonstop attacking. The Rocket army was more massive than we had gambled on. Gliscor and Al gave up their jobs as spotters and joined the fray. Sandslash, Duke and Croagunk emerged from the trench very early on. While the bigger pokemon were easier to pick off, smaller ones like raticates and trapinch were much harder to hit.

"This isn't going well!" David shouted over the roar of battle. "We're too badly outnumbered! Even if we're stronger the numbers will get us eventually!"

"If you've got a better idea, now's the time!" Dylan shot back.

A flash of light that didn't seem like an attack caught my eye and I missed whatever David said back. A trio of pidgeotto were chasing after a glowing pokemon. The glowing pokemon's body grew into one larger body and it's wings spread out. Two little legs sprouted as well. When the glow faded the pokemon appeared to be a fanged mouth with wings.

"Al!" David yelled. "Use air cutter!"

When the flying mouth responded, I realized that it was Al. The zubat had evolved into a golbat. It did a one-eighty in the air and gave one sharp flap of it's wings. A glowing blue "s" shot out from the spot where the wings had snapped. It tore through the pidgeotto and the trio fell from the air. They were immediately replaced by two more. On the ground, a force of still nearly thirty was advancing. We had taken out a large number of them but we had no idea how many were left. All we knew was that our pokemon were starting to get tired.

"That was fun." I pointed at Al. "But not enough. Even if we get a lot more evolutions it won't be enough."

"Like I said, if you've got a better idea…" Dylan trailed off.

An explosion nearby sent dirt falling into our hair. As I was brushing it off, I caught a glance of Steelix looming protectively over us.

"I just might. Steelix, use dig!"

Steelix dove backwards and rumbled into the ground.

"What good did that do?" David asked as he dodged a stray pin missile.

I just looked at him for a moment. Once the look had become awkward, I stomped my foot once. The ground rumbled and Steelix erupted in the middle of the advancing pokemon army. Pokemon bodies were flung everywhere. Some were knocked out, even more confused. Then Steelix disappeared back underground. The group of thirty was down to less than twenty.

"Not bad!" David exclaimed. "Do it again!"

I shook my head and kicked the ground twice. Steelix emerged from the hole it had disappeared into behind our line. Just as it cleared the hole, the entire town shook. A half demolished building finally gave way and crumbled to the ground. I fell into a pile of loose dirt. David and Dylan kept their feet and helped me back to mine.

"Earthquake," David said, now understanding. "It'd ruin Steelix for good if it was underground."

"Yeah. It was pretty much a one-time thing."

"Incoming!" Dylan screamed and knocked us down.

Dustox swooped in and a translucent green semicircle appeared in front of it. The force of the hyper beam almost cracked Dustox's protect but the purple bug held strong and weathered the storm. It fluttered away unsteadily to prepare for the next attack it had to intercept.

"Close one," Dylan grunted and helped me back to my feet. "I don't think Dustox is strong enough to keep this up for long."

"Qui-lava!" screamed a high-pitched voice.

We looked down the trench to see Quilava perched on the front edge. The flames flickering on it's head and rear were taller and stronger than I had ever seen them before. It screamed again. Whirling it's head around it fired a storm of embers from both it's head flames and then it's mouth. The embers from it's mouth intensified until they became a solid stream of fire and thrummed with the power of a full flamethrower.

"Blaze!" Dylan announced. "Quilava must be running on fumes!" Then he looked around and pointed down to the other end of the trench. "Look! Charmeleon's got Blaze going too!"

My eyes instantly snapped to my pokemon. Just like Dylan had said, Charmeleon's fire on it's tail was roaring with unusual intensity. It's fire attacks were much stronger but it was an obvious sign that it was running low on energy. It was only a matter of time until the other pokemon were in the same boat.

I ran a hand through my hair and around my face. It still came away with some blood on it. "We're in trouble! Ideas?"

David hesitated and then said, "Yeah!" He turned and faced the two gyarados. He held up both his index fingers next to each other. Then he swung them out in opposite directions until they met at the opposing end of a circle. He accentuated it with a short stab of his fingers. "Got it?"

The gyarados I was pretty sure was Slappy rumbled something to the other. It rumbled back. Both then took to the air in opposite directions. They flew like they were swimming, almost slithering. Each gave the town a wide berth as I quickly lost sight of them in the debris-filled air.

"What was that?" I asked.

"A flanking maneuver," Dylan answered. "He sent them around behind the opposing force for a surprise attack."

David smiled. "I've seen a lot of war flicks."

The air swirled and a dragon rage struck a Rocket pokemon from behind. Confusion reigned. From deep in the dust cloud, the gyarados were laying waste to the confused Rocket force. The Rocket pokemon broke their ranks as they no one was quite sure which direction they should be attacking now. The trench pokemon let loose with their attacks again, catching a lot of Rocket pokemon in their turned backs.

"What's that noise?" Dylan yelled over the sounds of battle.

At first I didn't hear anything. Then I heard a thrumming noise that didn't seem to have any place in battle. The debris cloud began to whip around with a sudden ferocity. Waves of dirt and soot and who knew what else began to buffet us. We hunkered down in our trench and called for our pokemon to do the same. Gliscor and Al strained to stay in the air and eventually were forced to land. I pulled my glasses off and then hid my eyes in the crook of my elbow.

I wanted to say something but didn't particularly want a mouth full of dirt.

Then a new sound joined the other unknown sound. At first it wasn't familiar but after a second of listening it grew louder and more obvious: a siren. I pulled my shirt up around my head to form a protective sleeve and turned my back to the battlefield. At first I couldn't see anything. Then I remembered to put my glasses back on and could make out a trail of flashing lights approaching at high speeds. I wasn't an expert at identifying flashing lights but I was pretty sure they were all police.

If there were police cars approaching than that meant…

I snuck a quick glance at the sky. A big black and yellow helicopter was lowering itself. Ropes sprouted from the sides and men began dropping down. I couldn't see it clearly in the dust storm it was creating but I was almost positive it had just dropped off a SWAT team. It then lifted back off and disappeared into the sky.

Vanessa had come through.

"Freeze!" barked a voice. "Hands where I can see them!"

I sighed with relief. Police cars were screeching to a halt behind us. There was a whole lot of yelling as doors swung open. I started to rise up and the yelling intensified. I froze and took my first good look around. There were a lot of guns pointed at me. There were a pair of SWAT members in a crouch with weapons pointed at me. Policemen were leaning over hoods and around car doors with pistols aimed.

"Dammit Tim!" Dylan hissed. "Stop moving!"

Like I had a choice. Four officers approached and forced the three of us to lay facedown on the ground. I could just barely see the SWAT team. Our arms were secured behind our backs then we were roughly yanked to our feet. Steelix growled warningly. A number of growlithe that had apparently come with the police growled back in turn.

"Wait, I think there's been a misunderstand!" David protested. "We're the good guys! We just saved this town!"

"Saved it?" one of the officers snapped. "You damn near burned it to the ground!"

"Ok, yeah maybe a little," Dylan agreed. "But that part wasn't our fault! It was a matte of life and death!"

The officers shoved us towards the lead car. Charmeleon let out a snarl. Duke gave an angry cry. The police growlithe snarled back. Things were about to get ugly.

"Can we at least recall our pokemon?" I asked. "They've already been through a lot and are kind of have short fuses right now. If we don't get them back in their balls, they're probably going to battle your growlithe."

Three of the officers turned to the fourth. He had a big bushy mustache. "Sarge?" they asked.

Sarge considered this for a moment and then agreed. We each took turns pointing out our pokemon and having an officer take poke balls off our belts and trying to find the right ones to return them to. It took a few minutes but we eventually got all our pokemon off the field.

"So." Sarge spread his feet in front of us once we were up against the car. "If those were all your pokemon, then who's are these?"

"Team Rocket's," all three of us answered at once.

Sarge's eyes narrowed. "You're shitting me."

"No sir." I shook my head and we launched into a disjointed story of how we had found our way to Pallet Town and the events that had transpired. We kept interrupting each other with more explanations. We left no fact out, no matter how insignificant it might have been. While we did that more and more policemen and policewomen streamed past us to search the town for any other survivors. Several fire engines thundered past with hopes of putting out the fires that still raged.

When we had finally concluded our tale, Sarge looked to one of his men. "That check out?" he asked.

The man nodded. "Matches what the girl told us."

"Girl?" David repeated, straightening up. "You mean Vanessa? Is she ok?"

"She's fine," Sarge assured him. "So back to your story. Tell me more about this mansion."

I shrugged. "I think we told you everything. You can have the stuff we took though."

His eyes narrowed. "Stuff you took?"

"Technically, we're pretty sure they stole it so it's not stealing," I protested. "We know Professor Oak. We thought he might like to have it back."

"Really."

"Check my phone," I offered, sticking my hip out so they could get at my phone. "His number is in there. He gave me and Dylan pokemon."

"He's not lying," Dylan confirmed.

In what was an awkward moment, one of the officers slipped his hand into my pocket and retrieved my phone. He found my contacts and showed them to the sergeant. The sergeant was not impressed. He plucked the phone away from his man and pressed a key. Sticking the phone up to his ear, he fixed me with a look and waited. His eyes got big when presumably Oak's secretary answered and I smiled at him. "Told you so."

Sarge began a conversation and turned his back to us.

Dylan looked at the officer next to him. "So… technically have we been arrested?"

The officer gave him a sideways look. "Why?"

"So I can tell girls I've been arrested."

The cop had to look away so it was less obvious he was trying not to laugh.

While the sergeant was talking on my phone, I leaned around to try and get a better look on what else was going on. People had begun to emerge from the wreckage. All of them were being lead past us and not all of them at gunpoint either. Paul, the cook from the diner, offered me a nod and a smile as he was lead to a waiting ambulance. One officer came over and tended to the cut on my head. I was the only one of us that had any type of serious injury but mine could hardly be considered serious. The officer said it wouldn't even need stitches but I might still end up with a slight scar.

"So did we win?" I asked my friends. "I guess technically they're free."

David snorted. "Technically. Half their homes were destroyed along with their businesses."

"Evil was vanquished though," Dylan chimed in with exaggerated bravado.

"Not enough of it though." I was silently doing a mental tally. "They've only put like ten guys in the backs of police cars. There was easily thirty-plus when this whole thing started."

Dylan frowned. "You sure?"

I noticed that the two closest policemen were now interested in our conversation. "Pretty sure. Not only that, they were all guys. It was definitely a woman who issued the challenge to us."

A bulky man, clad in black approached us. He had a rifle clutched to his chest. "You are the ones who reported the mansion as the main base of Team Rocket's operations." It was not a question.

"Yes sir." We all replied.

"It's empty."

My jaw literally dropped. "No way! There was so much stuff in there!"

"Explains why we've only seen a few Rockets," Dylan said slowly. "They were using our battle as cover for abandoning the mansion!"

"I assume you're confiscating our backpacks for now anyway but we managed to get a bunch of stuff from them before the battle," David told the man. "Lots of documents, a couple books, some DVDs of data and a hard drive."

The man nodded to us and then to the sergeant and then disappeared.

"I've got some good news and I've got some bad news," the sergeant said to us. "Which would you like first?"

"Good," Dylan replied immediately. "Hopefully the bad will seem less bad."

The sergeant nodded like Dylan had said something truly deep. "Professor Oak has verified who you are. Many of the townspeople have given statements that parallel your own. It would seem that you are who you claim to be and have done what you claim to have done which is somewhat remarkable."

"What's the bad?" I asked.

"Despite what I just told you, you're still going to be taken into custody."

We all groaned.

Sarge smiled ever so slightly. "You aren't under arrest but you are definitely persons of interest in this investigation. You won't be held in the jails but you won't be allowed to leave the city. We will obtain housing for you, probably a motel or something, but you won't be allowed to leave until this whole thing is sorted through. It may take a week. It may take longer."

I sighed. "Could be worse. We get to sleep without worrying if someone's going to kill us."

Once back in whatever city the police had come from, we were reunited with Vanessa. She had been forced to wait at the police station the entire time. As soon as she saw David she flew into his arms. Despite earlier assurances we weren't under arrest, we were all fingerprinted and photographed. We were left to ourselves at an unused desk with four swivel chairs in their office area while someone went about getting us someplace to stay.

During our wait, Vanessa told us how she had managed to sneak through the trees and then steal the truck. She didn't have a clue where she was going at the time but it didn't really matter. A police officer pulled her over not too long after she had found a town. The officer didn't believe a word of what she tried to tell him though. While the officer was humoring Vanessa and making some calls, a pillar of smoke appeared in the distance. Once it became clear that she might actually be telling the truth, the officer got her to the police station and the force got mobilized.

"I'm definitely taking credit for the smoke signal," I said when she was done.

Dylan snorted. "No way! I clearly made it!"

"Please." I waved him off. "I was using the fire pokemon. We were throwing fire and dragon rages all over the place. No way it wasn't us."

"I'm going to have to side with Tim," David chimed in. "He did have the more explosive offense."

Dylan thought about this for a moment. "Yeah that's probably true. The environment does seem to take a lot of punishment when you battle."

Vanessa was literally bouncing in her chair. "Now tell me what happened to you guys!"

David started with how he managed to get through the town. It apparently hadn't been hard at all. He had literally just walked quickly across the road and no one had paid him any attention. Paul the cook had helped him get to the roof where he had camped out until coming to our rescue after the battle.

Dylan and I filled in the rest of the story. Each of us tried to overemphasize what we had done just to make ourselves feel more awesome. Vanessa was able to see through all our bluster and got the actual facts. David joined back in the telling once we got to the part where we were running for our lives. We covered our final stand and then the police getting there and our story was done.

"So now what?" Vanessa asked us. "They didn't tell me anything!"

"I guess they're going to make us stick around for a bit," David said as he repeated what the police had said to us. "They still have our backpacks. With everything the Rockets had cleaned out of the mansion, we're the only ones that can tell them anything about Team Rocket. We're pretty valuable all of a sudden."

It took about an hour for anyone to come to us. When they did, they didn't have any news for us. What they did have though was food. A thoughtful secretary had ordered us some food from a local sandwich shop. We gratefully devoured the sandwiches and chips.

Not long after had dumped the last of our crumbs down our throats, an officer approached us. He was a big guy, probably in his mid-thirties with dark skin. His bald head gleamed in the humming tube lights. He introduced himself as Lieutenant Rivers. There were no more chairs available so he leaned against the desk as he talked to us. He picked at his uniform trousers as he tried to get comfortable.

"We're going to get you out of here for now," he said, his voice a deep bass. "There's no reason to keep you guys around here for now. We've got a motel set up for you. Each of you get your own room. You can't go anywhere though."

"When are we going to be allowed to continue our journey?" David asked.

Rivers shrugged.

"What about our backpacks?" I pressed. "We have all our clothes in their and a punch of pokemon."

Dylan added, "What about going to a pokemon center?"

"We can stop off at a pokemon center on the way," Rivers said after a moment of consideration. "I'll get your backpacks back. I'm pretty sure our guys have gotten everything you took from Team Rocket out of them anyway. Any other questions?"

"We can't leave but can we make phone calls?" I asked. "Pardon my French, but my mom is probably shitting a brick if Professor Oak told her about this."

Rivers didn't even bother to hide his grin. "Yeah, you can call your parents. Just don't tell them too much. We don't want anything to leak out that could compromise our investigation."

That made sense to us.

"Any other questions?"

"Can we call for pizza?" That was Dylan.

This time Rivers laughed. "You guys are all right. Yeah, you can call for food. We'll work out something so you aren't paying for your own food since we're the ones making you stay here. Not fair to make you pay for it all."

He lunged forward off the desk and told us to wait there. He grabbed his phone off his belt and walked out of the office area. After ten or so minutes, Rivers reappeared. He carried all of our backpacks in his hands. Once we had made sure everything that was ours was still in their, the lieutenant lead us to the police motor pool. He loaded us into a big suburban and we hit the road.

The motel we were being put up at wasn't far from the station, maybe a seven minute drive but we drove past it. After a quick trip to the pokemon center, we pulled back into the motel. Rivers went in and got all our room keys for us. The motel was one of the kind that all the rooms opened to the outside. We were all on the second floor, all next to each other. To our surprise, there was several police officers standing outside our doors.

"They're to make sure you don't leave and no one unexpected shows up," Rivers explained. "Can't be too careful. You want to leave your rooms to go anywhere but each other's rooms, they go with you. No exceptions." He exchanged a few words with the guards before coming back to us. "I'll be back for you tomorrow morning. You're all going to have to give statements and then we'll probably have some questions for you. Be ready to go by nine."

The rooms were nothing to write home about. There was a bed and a nightstand. In the corner underneath the window was a stuffed chair that didn't look all that comfortable. There was a surprisingly modern television on top of a chest of drawers.

I tried to spend as little time in the bathroom as I could but I had to take a shower. Dirt and grime just poured off of me. I touched my head against the cool tile and began to shake. Everything that had happened in the last two days came roaring back. The sandwich I'd had earlier threatened to come back up. I slumped down and let the hot water beat down on me. I touched the throbbing cut just below my hairline. Realizing how close I had come to dying, it was all I could do to not break down in tears. A few may have leaked out but I would never admit to it.

Once I was cleansed both physically and mentally, I dug out my phone to call my parents. Professor Oak had in fact told my parents and my mom was in fact shitting bricks. I gave them the bare bones of what had happened. I lied to them and told them I wasn't hurt; it wasn't worth dealing with any hysteria from my mom. The conversation went on so long that I had to dig my phone charger out and plug in my phone.

There was a knock at my door and I used it as an excuse to end the call. It wasn't one of my friends like I had assumed but one of the officers. He was collecting our clothes and taking them down to the laundry facilities to get them cleaned. I happily handed them over. Two minutes later there was another knock. This time it was Dylan.

"How you doing?" he asked after I let him.

I flopped down onto the bed and watched as he fidgeted in the chair, confirming my suspicions that it wasn't comfortable. For a while, nothing was said. The hum of something filled the voice that silence would otherwise claim.

"I'm doing… not bad, I guess. With all things considered, I think that's all I could hope for. You?"

Dylan finally picked a position in the chair. "The same. That was pretty messed up."

I snorted. "That's putting it lightly."

He didn't say anything I could tell something was on his mind. It was one of those things he was going to chew on until I said something. To tell the truth, if it had to do with what we just went through, I wasn't sure I wanted to know. Finally I said, "Spit it out."

"I've had some time to think about it and, well…" he trailed off. It took a 'continue on' hand motion from me to do so. "Just stick with me for a minute here. Think back to when we were down in that trench and the Rockets were advancing. Remember how we were all hunkered down and ready to defend our area?"

"Kind of hard to forget."

He hesitated again but only for a moment. "Ok, think about this then: if we hadn't been facing Team Rocket for our lives, wouldn't that have been a lot of fun?"

I bolted upright on the bed. "What?"

"Think about it!" he pleaded as he held up his hands. "Pretend for a second that it had been just you and me and the advancing army was David and Vanessa! It's like pokemon war games!"

There was no protest from me this time. I continued to look at him, trying to hide my intrigue.

This time Dylan continued without pause. "I've heard rumors that people are starting to experiment with three-on-three battles, so why not just escalate that? Just the number of pokemon up to double digits. Maybe even triple digits if you have enough people. There could be entire battalions of pokemon!" He was really started to get excited now. I could see him start to fidget again. "Think about the town we were just in! If we had an abandoned town like that we could even do urban warfare! Teams of pokemon prowling around, ready to battle with no geographical restrictions!"

I didn't want to admit anything good could have come from our time in Pallet Town but this idea did strike me as something that if I had been given the chance to try, I would have jumped at the chance. Hell, technically I already had done it. If I was honest with myself and took away the potential threat of death, it probably would've been a lot of fun.

I started to open my mouth when Dylan cut me off. "I knew it!"

Now I was confused. "What?"

"I can see it on your face!" he laughed. "You like the idea!"

"I will admit that it has merit," I said slowly. "I think there's still quite a bit of fleshing out to do for the idea though." I rolled to one side and yanked the drawer on the nightstand open. It took me a moment to find the pad of paper and pen I knew had to be there. "Ok, start listing off some ideas. Go slow enough for me to keep up. If we can get everything down on paper, maybe something concrete will start to take shape."

Dylan clearly had been thinking about this for a while. He began to rattle off thought after thought as fast as I could write them. I made him pause a few times so I could try and shake out my cramping hand. It wasn't long before we had several pages with ideas scribbled across them. I handed the pad to Dylan and tried to massage my right hand with my left.

He flipped through the pages. "I really think we might be on to something here." He jotted a few things down and started chewing on the end of the pen.

"You'd probably need some serious financial backing to get this off the ground." I gave up on my hand massage. It was useless. "To wage those kind of battles you'd have to secure some serious terrain. Especially if you wanted urban warfare to be an option. Where are you going to get that kind of money?"

There was no answer at first. Dylan just went from page to page again and again. Finally he said, "That's not important right now. Yet. Right now, it's still all about the idea and if it can even work."

He stayed in my room for the next few hours and bounced ideas off of me as far as rules to the battle or match or game or whatever he was calling it that time. I had to admit that it was starting to sound pretty interesting. I would definitely be in line to be a part of it if and when he could get the project off the ground.

David and Vanessa eventually came by, both of them curious about dinner plans. While Dylan and I had been "planning the future" as he called it, Rivers had apparently dropped off a list of places he had set up a line of credit at and would deliver us food. There was a very thorough selection of choices: pizza, Chinese, deli sandwiches, Indian, and surprisingly a hot dog joint.

We were about to phone in a pizza order when I got an idea.

"Hold on," I said and got off the bed. I walked to the door and opened it. All three of the officers were leaning against the railing outside my door. I looked at one of them and asked, "What do you guys like on your pizza?"

His response was a confused look. He looked to the guy on his left and the girl on his right in search of what to say. Finally the girl managed a "What?"

"We're ordering pizza," I explained. "Do you want some or not? Your station is footing the bill so you might as well take advantage of it. We'll just say we eat a lot."

They quickly decided that they like meat lovers.

We became fast friends with the officers after that. Ben, Chance and Jenny were their names, all of them in their late twenties or early thirties. None of them seemed too thrilled with guard work but they said they had to earn their stripes being on the younger end of the force. They never came inside any of our rooms to chat but would always talk with if we went outside for air.

The next morning Rivers was there to pick us up right at nine.

At the police station we were separated. I was taken to a room and seated at a bare metal table and asked to tell my story to a group of police officers that I hadn't met before. Judging from their impeccably tailored uniforms and the gray creeping into their hair, these were senior cops. Once they heard my tale, they asked me questions for a bit. They tried to get me to remember anything else I could about the Rocket mansion or anything specific about any of the Rocket members. After they decided drained me for all my worth, they sent me back to my friends and we were all taken back to the hotel.

Two days later, we had to do the same thing again. Instead of cops in uniforms, this time I told my story to men in suits. When I asked them who they were, they would ignore the question. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out they were from one of the three-lettered agencies. My money was on the FBI. Dylan gave me two-to-one odds they were actually CIA. Over the next week we never saw them again so we called the bet off.

Finally, ten days after we had first been placed in the motel, Rivers arrived and told us we were free to go.

"Keep your cell phones near you," he advised. "We'll call if we think of anything else we need to ask you. You'll probably hear from us again in a matter of days." He paused and puckered his lips like he was decided if he should tell us something. "There is a very real chance that Team Rocket may try to extract some time of revenge on you. From everything you've told us, we think it is highly, _highly_ unlikely that they know of your identities but I want you to be aware of the situation."

When we said we had no questions for him, he shook each of our hands and was gone. That only left saying goodbye to our guards before we could get back to traveling. When they approached, Officer Jenny's hair was no longer it's usual brown. It was now a bluish-green.

"What happened to your hair?" I couldn't help laughing.

She blushed. "I went to a costume party over the weekend when I was off duty. This was supposed to be temporary dye but it won't come out!"

We all got a good laugh and then said our farewells.

Our first stop once we hit the road was the pokemon center. We may have been forced to stay on motel grounds but they couldn't stop us from doing some training. While our pokemon were healed, I checked my email. There was one from Professor Oak. In it he hoped things were going alright with the investigation and whatnot. He also added that there was a software update for the pokedex. It would now display an icon when I was using it on a wild pokemon that would tell me if I had already capture one of that species. I couldn't help but wonder if that was a gentle reminder that I hadn't captured any new pokemon in quite a while.

"So how far away is the next gym?" Vanessa asked when we were all set.

"Far," Dylan grunted. "Probably close to a month of walking maybe. It's middle October I think so that will put us there in early November even if we catch a bus or two."

"Where exactly is it?" I asked, trying to see over his shoulder.

"The Everglades in Florida."

I raised an eyebrow. "You mean the swamps?"

David answered for Dylan. "Yeah. From what I've heard, it's pretty deep inside them too. You have to navigate through almost a natural maze before you get to the actual gym."

"Fan-freaking-tastic!" I groaned.


	36. Chapter 36

Just in case Oak's pokedex update had been a hint to catch more pokemon, both Dylan and I did just that. There was slim pickings as far as wild pokemon went however which kind of made sense. Unless a pokemon really wanted to be caught, it probably wasn't going to be hanging around a path that was frequented by trainers. In the first few days, I added a hoppip, a spearow and a spinarak to my collection. Dylan added a starly, a ledyba and a sentret. Yeah, I know. To no one's surprise, David caught no new pokemon. Vanessa caught herself a meowth. Nothing special. At the next pokemon center we found, we transferred them all to Professor Oak's lab.

True to his word, we heard from Lieutenant Rivers on the fifth day of our travels. He asked if we had thought of anything else useful. When we said that we didn't, he asked us a few more directed questions which we answered as best we could. Before ending the call, he mentioned to Dylan that they had accidentally kept something of his. Rivers promised he would ship it to Dylan's house.

We discovered along our way that people had been advised to avoid the very area we were traveling. With all the Team Rocket activity, the authorities were trying to discourage travel in all directions from the recently rediscovered Pallet Town to make it easier to weed out any other possible Rocket members. Or at least that's what a few policemen we ran into along the trail we were following told us. Lieutenant Rivers had circulated some photos of us to local law enforcement so we were allowed to pass without much fuss.

Dylan continued his work on his pokemon warfare idea. It was really beginning to evolve into something. There were two versions that he had come up with so far. The first was a normal battle with advancing forces or one force holed up to defend against another. The second was more similar to capture the flag. Each force had a designated General that the purpose was to capture. The General stayed in each force's base or some other decided upon area. Pokemon had to battle their way to the General and secure him or her. I thought the second idea in particular had merit. It was kind of surprising to me that no one had thought of this yet.

Our good luck with the weather finally gave out. We had been blessed with decent weather almost our entire journey. That ended on our sixth day of travel. A freak snowstorm derailed our walking, forcing us to do an about-face and seek shelter at the pokemon center we had left only two hours previous. Our gear had mostly been for lighter weather. We were totally unprepared for the two inches of snow that found us. We weren't the only ones either apparently whatever city we had been wasn't ready and pretty much shut down. The South does not know how to handle snow at all we found out. Just as we were about to go buy heavy coats and hiking boots, the sun appeared on the second day of hunkering down. Instead we decided to tough it out in our light jackets and walking shoes. It was cold going at first but once we got a good distance further south, the snow began to vanish and more friendly temperatures returned.

Dylan and I ended up buying new gear despite the warmer temperatures. When we had left Michigan so, so long ago we still had a bit of fat on our bodies. Dylan was big and bulky and I wasn't fat but I had a little chunk to me. A little bit of a belly, I guess. That was back in June and now it was October. Both of us had shed a fair amount of weight along with any excess fat that we had. Needless to say, not only were our pants worn out but we could barely keep them around our waists. We both picked up a few new pairs and donated our old ones to Good Will. After all four of us purchased new walking shoes, we were back on the road.

I eventually lost track of the days once we hit the Florida border. The only reason that I even knew that we were at the border was the pokemon center we stopped at had a sign noting that it sat right on the border of Florida and Georgia. We flipped through a few newspapers while we got our pokemon healed up and then were on the road again.

Something had changed though. I couldn't put my finger on it for the first day. I did get distracted a bit battling my pikachu against a leafeon and winning though. On the third day it became very clear: something was wrong with Vanessa. Backtracking through my memory of the last three days I deduced that she had been becoming consistently less talkative. As I watched her in the present, her posture had changed as well. She was now walking with her shoulders hunched, deep in thought and more or less oblivious to the world. Drifting apart from the group became a reoccurring theme.

As the next pokemon center came into view, I pulled David aside as Vanessa drifted ahead. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

His icy blue eyes met mine. "Sure. What's up?"

"What's going on with Vanessa?" I jerked my head towards her. "She's been acting weird lately. Almost not with us, you know?"

David sighed and pursed his lips. He made sure she was far enough ahead before he said, "Remember that pokemon center we stopped at on the Florida border? You know those newspapers we read because it was taking so long?" I nodded, remembering the long wait clearly. "Well Vanessa found an article about what happened in Pallet Town. It was an update on all the Team Rocket members that had been captured."

When he paused I asked, "So?"

"Remember how she had her flaaffy shock those two Rockets?"

"Well no, I wasn't there," I said. Sarcasm was my default setting. "I remember being glad when she told me about it though. Those were the two Rockets that told me about that path in the first place."

A grin tugged at David's lips but lost it's battle to form. "I guess when she left them, she thought they were just unconscious. Turns out they were hurt pretty bad. That much electricity is not good for the human body. All sorts of damage to the nervous system. One's in a coma. They aren't sure if he'll make it."

"Oh."

"Exactly," David said with a sigh. "The fact that she really hurt them has kind of messed her up a little bit."

The fact that he ended with that kind of surprised me. "Did you try to talk to her about it?"

He just shrugged. Our conversation had taken a turn that neither of us seemed to be comfortable with. We could share talk of battles and other manly things but this kind of thing was still somewhat foreign to our friendship. This was something that neither of us really wanted to talk about. It appeared David was going to open up just for the sheer fact that he couldn't really avoid it anymore. To be honest, I wasn't really sure I wanted to know what he was going to tell me. I had to derail this conversation and fast.

"I tried to talk with her about it," he began. "But it's hard. I don't like to talk about things like that unless I absolutely have to. And if I do it once, I'll have to do it again. Once I do it once, I won't be able to back out because she'll say I'm not so tough-"

I saw my opening and cut him off and sang, "_Just because you're in love with an uptown girl_!"

Dylan's ears perked up. "_She's been living in her white bread world."_

Vanessa turned around now. Dylan and my singing was pretty bad but David was laughing and moving with us in long, drawn steps now as we approached Vanessa.

"_As long as anyone with hot blood caaa-an!" _I ran my hands down my chest and stomach as seductively as I could manage.

Dylan turned and pointed to David. _"And now she's looking for a downtown man!"_

David hooked his thumbs under his pack straps and finished the verse. _"That's what I am."_

The three of us then went into the _"O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o!"_ as Vanessa looked on in amused horror. Nearby trainers that were just passing stopped to watch as we stepped one way together and then back another.

"_Uptown girl!" _we sang together. _"She's my uptown gi-irl! You know I'm in love with an uptown girl. An uptown gi-iirl!"_ We slowed it down and then went into a high pitch for _"You know I'm in love… with an uptown girl!" _We dragged the last word out as long as we had breath.

A trainer across the way clapped while another one mock booed. Others just shook their head in amazement that that had just happened. Probably also at how bad it had been. Vanessa was frozen with an bemused grin on her face.

"What… what was that?" she asked finally.

"Uptown Girl by Billy Joel." Dylan rolled his eyes. "Duh. Come on, that's a classic."

With that we began to walk again. The pokemon center was only twenty yards or so now. Vanessa was still so confused by what had just happened that she didn't follow us immediately.

"Wait, no, seriously!" Vanessa lurched after us. "What the hell was that?"

"I told you," Dylan sighed. "Uptown Girl."

"Yes but why?"

"Why not?" David shrugged. "Tim started it and it seemed to get you out of your funk. It did us all some good."

Vanessa's cheeks flushed as she realized that we had all noticed her change. She hunched her shoulders back up and moved ahead of us.

"Well, for a moment anyway," David said with a sigh. Then he looked at me and Dylan. "I'm surprised you guys knew that song. You don't strike me as Billy Joel fans."

"My dad literally listens to all music," Dylan laughed. "Besides, it's just a good song."

David grinned. "That's true. Not my favorite music genre but I still like it."

"The first CD I got was the _Top Gun _soundtrack," I announced. "The second was that Billy Joel album."

David cracked up. "_Top Gun_? Seriously?"

I shrugged. "It's my mom's favorite movie of all time. Hands down. It is a good movie though. Now I just know the words to all the songs."

There was a moment of silence as we entered the pokemon center. Vanessa was still ahead of us. She was now at the counter waiting for the nurse. There were quite a few trainers in the lobby and I was pretty sure she had actually cut in front of a few of them without even knowing it. Instead of lightening her mood, we had apparently darkened it even further.

Hiking through Florida ended up being a lot harder than it initially sounded. The further towards the Everglades we got the more swamps began appearing. This was the first topographical feature that we couldn't just cross straight through. Well, we tried one time but we got about to the edge of the water before we decided it was a bad idea.

The only upside was that swamps tended to be crawling with pokemon. In one of the early swamps I came across a big blue pokemon lounging on the banks of the water. It was long and thick and had large three-fingered hands and arms. It looked up at me with pinprick black eyes. I wasn't entirely sure if it was conscious. I sent Pikachu out to find out. It was only after it didn't flinch from a thunderbolt that I realized it was a quagsire and it's ground typing made it immune to electric moves. A quick doubly effective leaf blade from Grovyle and a poke ball later, I had myself a new pokemon.

It was also a fairly quiet march through the swamps. Vanessa had upgraded to talking to the rest of us on a limited basis. We weren't quite sure how we had wronged her so and she was not willing to talk about it. Each one of us took turns trying to walk next to her and get something out of her. Each and every time she responded by picking up her pace. It didn't take long for us to just give up. It was pretty clear that if she wanted to talk about it, she'd be the one to bring it up.

We were traveling single file to get out of a particularly nasty swamp when I ran into Dylan who had stopped in his tracks.

"Dammit man, what was that?" I said as I rubbed my nose and straightened my glasses.

Instead of saying anything, he took a few more steps. I followed him with David right on my heels. After my third step, I had to put up a hand to shield my eyes from the sun. We had emerged from the trees and swampland into a large grassy field. Vibrant green grass swayed slightly in the breeze. About a hundred yards ahead of us I could see where the swamps and trees began again.

"This is weird," David said. "Why is there a random meadow?"

Dylan scraped some mud off his shoes onto the grass. "Who cares? It's a nice change. It's getting close to sunset anyway."

Out of sheer curiosity, we headed to the next cluster of trees and swamps. There was a very clear entrance marked by a dirt path running into a gap in the trees. It ran as far into the swamps as I could see. Next to the opening was a wooden sign. Not a crappy handmade one but something you might see at like a national park. It read:

_Welcome trainers! At the heart of this next swamp lies the official Pokemon League Gym. To reach the gym, simply follow the path. However, it is recommended that it is not traveled at night. Wild pokemon inhabit this swamp and often grow more aggressive at night. Trainers are welcome to capture pokemon in these swamps but please do not capture more than you need. There is a pokemon center next to gym available for all your recovery needs. I look forward to meeting you!_

_Lacey, Official Gym Leader_

"Guess that settles what we do now," David sighed. "Shall we get set up?"

Setting up was a generous way to describe what we did. Essentially our setting up was dropping to the grass and unrolling our sleeping bags. Igglybuff, who had been riding on top of my back, curled up just inside the top of my sleeping bag. Technically we did have a pair of tents but it was still nice enough that far south that we didn't need to use them. We also refrained from using them because there was an unspoken agreement amongst the men that Vanessa would probably boot David out and he'd end up sleeping in our tent which was not made to hold three adults.

"We want a fire tonight?" David asked after settling his pack in place at the top of his sleeping bag.

"I wouldn't mind," said Dylan. "A warm meal would taste pretty good… or at least as good as a can over a fire can taste."

I was still standing so I went out in search of some firewood. There was no worthwhile wood along the perimeter of the trees. Although I didn't really want to, I took a few steps inside of the trees. They weren't nearly as densely packed as it had originally seemed. Most of them were about an arm's length apart and some even further. However, none of them were very yielding of firewood. Their thick trunks stretched up into the air and did not offer useful branches.

One of them did offer a pokemon. It was a little red pokemon with blue eyes and little, stubby arms with small stingers. Two legs sprouted from both sides of the small body and a segmented tail with a pincer emerged from the rear. Although I had never actually seen one in person, it bore a clear resemblance to it's evolution and I recognized it immediately as a skorupi.

For a moment we just looked at each other. I blinked. It blinked. Then it waved it's little arms at me and started crawling back up it's tree.

"Oh no you don't!" My hand shot to my belt and grabbed a poke ball. "Go, Sandslash!"

Sensing that a battle was about to ensue, the skorupi began to climb even faster.

"Focus blast!"

Sandslash cupped the glowing orb between it's claws momentarily before hurling it at the escaping bug pokemon. The skorupi tried to push away from the tree with it's tail. The explosion of the focus blast swept over it anyway and tossed it almost to the edge of the swamp. Sensing it had no choice but to fight now, the skorupi launched a pin missile attack from it's claws and tail.

"Get underground with dig!"

My pokemon vanished beneath the soil and the pin missiles exploded harmlessly on the ground. There was a slight tremor and then Sandslash erupted out of the ground like a geyser. The impact did knock the skorupi out of the treed area now. As it flailed and crashed into the ground, it tried to fire a poison sting but it's aim was no where near.

I readied an empty poke ball. "Time to end this. Rollout!"

A spinning Sandslash drove right through the skorupi. The ground pokemon veered around for another strike and this time rolled right over the poison pokemon. When I saw the skorupi struggling to get up, I threw my poke ball. It bounced off the bug pokemon, converted it to red energy and pulled it inside. By the time I had walked over to it, the ball had stopped shaking and the light had turned off.

"Good work," I said to Sandslash. "Take a good rest."

Conveniently when Sandslash had used focus blast, it had blown apart the tree it had hit enough to create some decent sized shards of wood. Not exactly how I had drawn it up but it had done the job.

"What was all that ruckus?" Dylan asked as I dumped an armload of wood down in front of him and David.

"Found and caught a pokemon," I replied, flopping down on my sleeping bag. "There was just a skorupi chilling on a tree. Sandslash may or may not have blown a sizeable chunk out of said tree using focus blast."

David laughed and got to work getting a fire going. Dylan and I watched him in silence. A few minutes later, Dylan suggested that he and I battle.

I shrugged. "Sure. Why not? There's apparently a pokemon center inside that swamp anyway."

Dylan rose to his feet and gave me a hand up. "I was thinking we should battle water-types. It's not like they're going to be much use at a grass-type gym anyway."

There was some obvious logic to what he was saying so I consented. Unless he had another water-type I didn't know about, our battle was to be Marshtomp versus Croconaw.

I realized immediately that even in this battle of water pokemon that I was at a disadvantage. Since Marshtomp had the dual typing of water/ground, that made water and ice attacks have normal effectiveness instead of it being halved. Croconaw had no such second typing so it was still resistant to the water gun and ice beam I had available to me. I did still have tackle and mud bomb but they would only carry me so far.

Thoughts aside, there was really only one way to start off a battle of water-type pokemon. We both yelled, "Water gun!"

The two blasts of water slammed into each other and began jockeying back and forth for supremacy. Croconaw began to overpower Marshtomp which was no real surprise. Dylan had had his pokemon for longer and it was one of his main battlers.

"Dodge and roll!" I commanded with a wave of my hand.

Marshtomp began slumping to it's left and suddenly broke off it's water gun. It rolled once and came back up on it's feet. Croconaw dragged it's head to the side to track the moving target.

"Ice beam!"

The jagged bolts of icy lightning slammed into the water gun and began forcing it back. Croconaw may have been stronger than my marshtomp but the initial strength of an ice beam attack was enough to counter that. Quickly it was Croconaw that had to roll to avoid the attack.

I had to act fast and hope for the best now. "Mud shot!"

Marshtomp responded by firing a barrage of muddy lumps from somewhere deep within it's throat. Croconaw kept rolling. My pokemon managed to track it and finally scored a direct hit, pounding the bigger water pokemon into the ground. Croconaw was able to escape shortly and the two pokemon faced each other down.

They were more or less at a standstill when it came to ranged attacks. This battle would have to be decided at close range which was the exact opposite of what I wanted but at the same time, my only chance.

"Slash!" Dylan ended our standoff.

"Tackle!"

The two pokemon ran forward and slammed into each other. Marshtomp got under the slash and took Croconaw to the ground. They began a rolling blur of all shades of blue. As they tumbled about there were occasional shots of mud, water and ice.

Dylan and I shared grins. It wasn't the usual majestic battle that we strived for. Given that it was just a friendly battle though, it was dang entertaining to watch our pokemon fight like little kids on the playground.

However, I still planned on trying to win. I just had to hope that Marshtomp had a long memory. "Marshtomp, get on up!"

It turned out that not only was Marshtomp's memory good but it's sense of improvisation had improved. Instead of blasting the ground with water gun to elevate itself, Marshtomp used ice beam. Ice beam still launched the pokemon into the air and at the same time began creating a tower of ice. Now instead of being free-falling back towards the ground my pokemon was balancing tenuously on a stalagmite of ice. It was a brilliant move of strategy. Up until Croconaw bit it in half at the base with one might crunch.

Marshtomp launched itself off the crumbling ice and tackled Croconaw back to the ground. As both pokemon tried to right themselves, I heard a strange buzzing. Looking around, I made certain we weren't about to be attacked by wild pokemon. It took another second to realize that the buzzing was coming from me. I dug into my pocket and pulled out my cell phone. The screen read _Professor Oak_.

I waved the phone at Dylan. "Professor Oak."

He nodded. "Answer it. We'll call it a draw."

Although it was going down in the record books as a draw, I knew Dylan was actually doing me a favor. Marshtomp was outmatched by Croconaw and wasn't going to last all the much longer. Putting the thought from my mind, I stabbed the answer key. "Hi Professor."

"Hello there, Tim!" came back his creaky voice. "How've you been doing lately?"

I took a few minutes to fill him in on our progress, recalling Marshtomp while I did so.

"Ah, very good," he said when I had finished. "Might I ask you a question?"

"Sure. What's up?"

"Do you and Dylan remember when you first visited me in my lab?"

I jerked my head for Dylan to come over and then put the phone on speaker. "Yeah, of course we do. What about it?"

"Do you remember me mentioning something called the Pokemon Sanctuary?"

Dylan and I exchanged looks. It was him that responded. "Kind of. You said there was some kind of myth behind it and to keep our eyes and ears open for anything."

"Oh! Hello Dylan!" Oak was surprised to find he was on speaker phone apparently. "Yes, that is correct. Is that all I told you?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

I could sense a lecture coming…

"Really? I should have elaborated further! Oh well, no time like the present! The Pokemon Sanctuary can in some ways be considered the cradle of life. Well, pokemon life anyway. It is believed that all pokemon have come out of the Sanctuary throughout history. We know that pokemon have to appear from somewhere because not all species can be traced back through history. Certain pokemon only begin to appear on Earth at differing times."

"You're talking about the generations," I chimed in. "There's four so far, right? Each one appearing at different times in history?"

"Very good! Generation One is the oldest. We can trace that generation extremely far back in history. The Second Generation came next and began to appear sometime between 0 and 500 A.D. The Third Generation came next around the time of the Renaissance, which began roughly around the 14th century. The most recent generation, the Fourth, first began appearing shortly before the American Revolutionary War. Each generation is fairly sizeable, the smallest being the Second with only one-hundred new pokemon. With such dramatically large numbers, it seems unlikely that over three-hundred pokemon were able to stay hidden for as long as they would have had to. This leads researchers to believe that pokemon must be coming from somewhere."

"Kind of like their own personal Garden of Eden?" Dylan asked.

"Precisely. While the legendary human Garden is seemingly gone, the pokemon version has apparently survived at least until the eighteen-hundreds."

I shot Dylan a look and then glanced at the battery display on my phone to make sure it was going to last. "This is all interesting Professor but I'm thinking you didn't call just to give us a history lesson."

Oak laughed. "No, I did not. But the Sanctuary is, in fact, the reason I did."

My eyes got huge. "Did someone find it?"

"No… not yet anyway. When you took… or perhaps the word is stole… anyways, did you happen to look at any of the materials you took away from the Team Rocket headquarters?"

Dylan looked at me and I shook my head. As far as I knew, none of us had read more than a word or two of anything we took. We told the Professor that.

"Ah, that's too bad," he sighed.

We were confused now. "Wait, why?" I asked.

"I was hoping that you might have read some other books or scrolls or such that you weren't able to take with you. All the materials you took, with the exception of the hard drives of course, were directly related to the Pokemon Sanctuary."

It took a moment for that to sink in.

"Team Rocket is after the Pokemon Sanctuary," Dylan said.

"Exactly and from the materials you recovered, they've put serious time, effort and money into locating it. Team Rocket appears to believe that the Sanctuary is real and seem to think that there is an entrance in North America that they might be able to open. It would seem like they have not located it just yet though."

"There's multiple entrances?" I asked.

"Oh yes." I knew I had just invited another lecture. "Each generation seems to have it's origins localized in certain parts of the world. The First Generation can be traced back the furthest in Asia, particularly Japan, which makes scholars believe that the first time the Pokemon Sanctuary opened it did so on one of the islands of Japan. That essentially makes Japan the birthplace of pokemon. The Second Generation's roots can be traced back to Africa. The Third Generation's arrival may be what sparked the Renaissance when they began appearing in Europe. Surprisingly, the Fourth Generation appeared in Australia first and some either migrated or first appeared in South America when they were first recorded. This makes the idea that the next time the Sanctuary opens, it will be in North America the prevailing theory. Judging from the time between the openings between the Second, Third and Fourth Generations, it could actually happen any time this centaury.

Dylan and I were quiet for a moment and then I said, "That would be bad if they found it."

"An understatement, really," Oak corrected. "If Team Rocket was the first to find the Sanctuary, they would have access to possibly hundreds of pokemon the world has never seen. If they somehow managed to get inside the Sanctuary, well, no one knows what would happen but I doubt it would be any good."

This was chilling news indeed. We might've had a chance to stop the Rockets if we had just actually read a few pages of any of the other books in that room. Professor Oak told us not get down on ourselves before he hung up. He pointed out that if nothing else, our stealing what we did would have slowed them down considerably. We tried to take heart in that but it was still a little discouraging.

We filled David and Vanessa in on our conversation with Oak once we got back to the campsite. Like us, they hadn't bothered to even look at anything else in the Rocket headquarters. It bothered them like it did us but at the same time, the thought of an entirely new generation of pokemon was something that was hard to ignore. We could be part of the first generation of trainers to capture and train the Fifth Generation.

The next morning could not come soon enough. Vanessa and David had begun bickering while the sun was still up and continued on well after it had gone down. They did so in hushed voices so they weren't loud enough for us to overhear, but still plenty loud enough to keep us awake at night. I wasn't sure of the time but I eventually got sick of it and called upon Igglybuff to use sing. Sure, I felt a little guilty using a pokemon move on actual people but a good night's sleep cured me of that guilt. We were all up and packed not long after the sun appeared over the horizon. I gave one final, sad look at my shoes that I had spent considerable time picking mud out of the soles and trudged into the Everglades.

The treachery of navigating the Everglade Swamps was not nearly as bad as my imagination had made it out to be. The main path that led into the swamps branched off into various routes but as far as we were able to discern, they all reconnected at some point. As long as we stuck to the paths we would eventually end up at the Gym in the heart of the swamp. Or back at the entrance we had used to get in. One or the other.

What was somewhat disconcerting was the life that permeated through the area. Every batch of grass, puddle of water and towering tree seemed to be alive. I knew it was just the pokemon in the area but it was still kind of a creepy effect mostly because we never really saw any. All we kept ever seeing was little bits of pokemon as they disappeared back into cover. I was quickly able to understand why trainers were advised to stay out of here at night.

Time passed quickly or at least I was pretty sure it did. We had all switched off our cell phones and tucked them away in our bags because we weren't sure what all the moisture in the air would do to them. It left me clock-less. We had yet to get a good look at any pokemon and that was probably more annoying that not knowing the time.

Dylan and David yelled something unintelligible and suddenly ran down a path to the left. I moved to follow them but my eyes locked onto something and I froze. It was a bird pokemon, both beautiful and intimidating. It's plumage was shades of gray and white, with an M-pattern on it's chest. A crest tipped in red came forward almost over it's eyes. The staraptor clawed at the ground and ignored me. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up. A fully evolved flying-type would be a great addition to my team.

"Pikachu, let's go!"

This got the staraptor's attention. It fixed Pikachu with a hard look and the electric mouse actually took a few steps back. The staraptor went back to pecking at the grass around it's orange clawed feet.

"Hey!" I called at my pokemon. "You've got the type advantage so don't back down! Thunderbolt!"

That got the staraptor's attention. Once it recovered, it screamed in an angry rage and came rocketing out of the underbrush. Orange streaks followed in it's wake which confused me until I realized that the bird pokemon was using take down.

"Use agility!"

Pikachu blasted off from where it had been standing. It bounced from left to right as it quickly closed the gap between it and it's opponent. Then it leapt right over a surprised staraptor. The staraptor pulled up and tried to get back oriented towards Pikachu.

"Good job!" I yelled. "Now thunderbolt again!"

"Ka-chu!" Pikachu exploded with lightning. The staraptor caught this one right in the chest. The lightning bolt slammed it back into a nearby tree that it slumped down.

"Ok, now it's my turn!"

I pulled an empty poke ball out and pitched it overhand at the downed staraptor. I was thinking about how it might be cool to learn to throw different baseball pitches with a poke ball when a gray wing snapped up and swatted the poke ball away. The staraptor muttered something under it's breath as it got back up.

"Wait," I said, pointing loosely at the flying pokemon. "Can that happen? Is that allowed?"

Pikachu had gathered up the poke ball and carried it back over to me. The staraptor had shaken the disorientation from it's head and was back in the air. It was trying to leave! I made a fist. No one, er, pokemon just gets away from me!

"This isn't over!" I called at the bird pokemon. It hadn't made much progress in it's escape yet. "Pikachu, thunderbolt!"

The staraptor dropped like a rock this time. I had to time my poke ball throw perfectly. I had always heard that you can't capture a pokemon that had fainted. I didn't know why or it was even true but I figured I had until the staraptor crashed to catch it. My timing was perfect. I hurled the ball and it swallowed up the staraptor just feet above the ground. The poke ball shook more violently than any I'd ever seen before but like all the others, went still eventually.

"Well done, buddy," I told my pikachu as I put it away and gathered up my newest pokemon.

Suddenly the afternoon seemed a lot brighter.

My friends found their way back to where we had split apart after a few more minutes. I had a triumphant grin on my face. They looked excited but I knew that I had captured the better pokemon. There was no way they could outdo me this time.

"Where did you go?" Dylan exclaimed. I saw that he still held a poke ball in his hand. "You missed it!"

"Did I?" I asked with a confident tone. "Did I really?"

"Yeah, you really did," David agreed.

I gave a laugh I associated with snotty rich people. "I doubt it. I caught myself a staraptor! Beat that!"

Dylan shrugged and tossed his poke ball. My jaw literally fell open. The pokemon was big and green as it stood on two clawed feet. Everything about it was either green like it's crested head or cream colored like the segments between limbs, the wings or the giant scythe-like blades it had instead of forearms.

"You caught a scyther?" I bellowed. "Why didn't you tell me you saw a scyther!"

"We tried," David said with a shrug. "There was a whole swarm of them. We all caught one but you weren't around. You were just gone."

I looked from one to the others and shot them all dirty looks. My great afternoon had suddenly been rained on. Although I was still happy with my new staraptor, I continued to brood for most of the afternoon about missing out on an opportunity to catch a pokemon as rare as a scyther. By the time I rationalized it away as there was only room for Heracross as the lone bug-type on my team, we had found our way to the gym.

Saying that they there was a pokemon center here was a bit of a stretch. It was a big hut with the universally recognized red cross above the door. There was a number of other huts spread around the area. I wasn't really good with guess how big spaces this wide open were, but I had to guess it was at least a couple acres. Considering all the swampland around it, it was pretty amazing they found a couple acres of solid ground. Behind the pokemon center Dylan pointed out what was obviously a solar panel and generator. That explained how they could have a functional recovery center.

We hadn't made it very far out of the woods when a woman who couldn't have been more than twenty-five came skipping up to us. Her long red hair bounced along with her in a ponytail. She had khaki shorts on, topped by a blue tank top. She came to a stop a few feet in front of us.

"Hi there!" she said, waving at us like we were still twenty yards away.

We all greeted her in turn.

"I bet you want to use the pokemon center. Come on!" She turned and began heading towards the building. She still hadn't given us her name.

Inside the center (and I use the term loosely) was a nurse reclining in a lawn chair next to some crates and a pokemon recovery machine that had a thick cable running out the back to the solar panel.

The nurse pulled herself out of the chair. She was about the same age as the first woman. "Hi Lacey. We finally get some new visitors?"

"It's about time!" agreed the first. "Other than the supply guy, no one's been here in forever!"

"Wait, Lacey?" David repeated after handing his pokemon over to the nurse. "You're the Gym Leader."

She went into a formal military salute. "Guilt as charged!"

Apparently living in a swamp with only a few people as company made you a bit… eccentric.

"We're really the first trainers to come by in a long time?" Dylan asked.

Lacey's shoulders slumped. "Afraid so. We had a hurricane or was it a tropical storm? … Anyways, there was a storm that scared trainers away. The swamps are usually hazardous traveling after a storm for a while. You guys probably timed it just right." She looked closely at our shoes. "Yeah, you did. Otherwise you'd be drenched up to your knees."

"Yay for us," Vanessa mumbled. It was probably the first thing she'd said all day.

"Yay for you!" Lacey exclaimed. "So what's first? Do you guys want to rest for a while or do you want to battle? We can battle over there." She pointed to a big open space. "Or we can eat. We have lots of supplies over there." She pointed to a hut. "Yup, we've got more than usual since we haven't had any trainers in a while.

The longer she talked, the faster Lacey talked. I was starting to wonder how many cups of coffee she might have had this morning. Before we could make a decision or really even think about it, Lacey made the decision for us and lead us to the food hut. In what was a real surprise, she rolled out a charcoal grill. She was apparently pulling out all the stops for her first guests in a long time.

Once food was prepared, she got us seated in folding chairs in a semicircle that faced out into the battlefield. It was rather pleasant actually even with Lacey's high-speed chatter. It filled any and all voids in the conversation easily.

"So," Lacey said, putting down her plate. "Do you know the rules of my gym?"

We all shook our heads.

"My gym is a little unique. I do things differently than any other Gym Leader. It's fun that way." She was really gathering steam now. "The amount of pokemon you use will determine the strength of the pokemon I use. If you use only one pokemon, my three pokemon will not be especially strong. If you use two, they will be a little stronger and so on. If you want to make it to my personal Hall of Fame, you can use six."

"Hall of Fame?" I made the mistake of asking.

Lacey shot out of her chair and pulled us out of ours as well. There was a small hut behind the pokemon center that we stopped at to get our pokemon back. Inside of the wooden walls, it had a ring of about fifteen photographs. Each of them looked especially proud of themselves.

"Not many people have made it here in the seven years since I've been in charge," Lacey explained. "When a trainer uses six pokemon, I use my some of my most powerful pokemon. If you win, I increase your winnings and you get your picture taken for the Hall. It's very prestigious. You can always get another battle if you lose as long as you put up a good showing."

She lead us back to our chairs and while she cleaned up, we had some serious things to consider. If I only used one pokemon, say Charmeleon, there's a good chance I could easily clean house without much trouble. The only downside to that is if even though it was one of her weaker pokemon, she might have a dual-typed pokemon that could cause me trouble. On the other end of the spectrum, if I went with six pokemon she'd bring out her heavy hitters. She might easily stomp me flat. Although as long as I made a good effort I could get a rematch, so was there really any harm in trying?

Finally Lacey announced that she was done cleaning and that it was time for battles. I accepted the first challenge and could only hope that I didn't regret it. She lead me over to the battlefield. Probably just calling it a field was a better description. It was an unremarkable field that was traced by trees along one side.

"So what will it be?" Lacey called to me from across the field. "How many pokemon will you use?"

"If this was a movie, I'd be making some dramatic speech about never backing down from a challenge," I announced. "I'll be using six!"

Lacey's eyes lit up. The nurse appeared at the side of the field to be the referee. She announced that the Gym Leader would send out the first pokemon. Her first pokemon was not much of a surprise. I was well versed in battling a torterra at this point. I knew it was a grass-type but also a ground-type which made my first pokemon an easy choice.

"Staraptor, let's go!" I hurled the poke ball.

When the flying pokemon appeared, it didn't look too happy. It glanced back over it's shoulder and gave me a terrible look. For a moment, I wondered if I had made a mistake choosing to lead off with the pokemon. Lacey must have caught the exchange because she held off attacking immediately. Or maybe it was all part of her strategy.

"Staraptor, aerial ace!" I ordered.

What Staraptor did was not perform aerial ace. With a flap of it's wings it flew over to the trees and landed on a branch. It proceeded to get comfortable and begin to clean it's plumage. Several curse words that I could use at the moment flickered through my mind. I immediately recalled the pokemon.

Lacey cocked her head to the side. "So… are we going with five pokemon now?"

"Just a technical difficulty," I assured her. I quickly swapped out pokemon. "Still going with six. Charmeleon, you're up!"

"Torterra, return!"

That was a surprising move to me. If she had all grass-type pokemon, why was Lacey recalling her torterra? The ground-typing Torterra had probably made it one of the best match-ups to use against a fire-type. But she was a Gym Leader so I assumed she had something up her sleeve.

I was right.

"Ludicolo, it's your turn!"

A ludicolo was big and round and easily reminded me of a pineapple wearing a sombrero. It had stocky green arms and legs and a big yellow bill. It was easily one of the strangest looking pokemon I had ever seen. My stomach began to sink as I realized it was also a dual typed pokemon: water and grass. Fire would no longer be super-effective, just regularly effective. It would also no doubt have a water-typed attack too. That would make things difficult for both Charmeleon and Steelix.

It turned out to be the least of my worries as Lacey yelled, "Rain dance!"

Ludicolo began moving like it was doing a hula dance. At first I found it amusing. Then the perfectly clear sky disappeared. The brilliant sun was shrouded behind a thick layer of black clouds. I managed to swear and get Charmeleon back into it's poke ball just seconds before the downpour began.

What had started out as a good idea was rapidly backfiring on me. Staraptor wasn't obeying. Charmeleon and Steelix wouldn't be able to function in this heavy of rain without taking damage, especially Charmeleon and it's exposed tail flame. I hadn't even gotten off an attack and I was suddenly down three pokemon, albeit two of them only temporarily.

I guess they don't call them Gym Leaders for nothing…

::Author's note::

I know that there's now actually 5 generations but this story was started before there was technically even 4. The 4th generation came out early enough into my writing that they could have conceivably always been there. Part of the reason for my recent delays was trying to figure out how to get the Gen 5 pokemon into the story without them just suddenly being there. It'd be weird for the protagonists to go for half a year without encountering anything from Gen 5. They are coming though. So if you're a Gen 5 fan, please be patient. Thanks.


	37. Chapter 37

"Are you stuck already?" Lacey called. I could barely hear her over the pounding rain. Her tone was actually concerned instead of mocking like I had expected.

"Not a chance!" I could handle this minor setback. "Grovyle, let's go!"

"Ludicolo, energy ball!"

"Grovyle, energy ball!"

The two green balls collided and detonated. This was the moment I decided that I now had the advantage. There was no way that that thing could move quickly how it was built. Grovyle, on the other hand, raced effortlessly over the grassy field. Ludicolo fired another energy ball. Grovyle easily sidestepped it.

"Leaf blade!" I yelled as loud as I could.

Even through the sheets of rain, the glowing blades on Grovyle's arms were easy to make out. My pokemon raced right past the ludicolo, raking it's blade across the round pokemon's body. Ludicolo lost it's balance for a moment but then recovered. Grovyle advanced again but was diverted off course by a shower of razor leaves.

I knew that I needed to get rid of this ludicolo. It's rain dance was a serious threat to my chances of winning. "Grovyle, fury cutter!"

The green blades disappeared and Grovyle's claws extended into glowing red scythes. Pivoting in the now muddy grass, it launched itself at the bigger pokemon. Spinning and slashing, Grovyle danced around Ludicolo. Each landed slash made Grovyle's claws get bigger and more powerful. At first Ludicolo didn't even try to defend itself which puzzled me. Then it blasted Grovyle in the face with a very well-timed energy ball. It must've picked up on a pattern Grovyle had that I hadn't noticed.

"Grovyle, return!" It took me two tries to tag the pokemon with the laser from it's ball through the rain. The rain that was beginning to let up a little, I noted. "Pikachu, go!"

I hadn't originally even wanted to put Pikachu into my team but less effective attacks seemed like a better idea than Sandslash who was weak to grass. With the arrival of Ludicolo and it's water-typing, that put Pikachu at least on equal footing.

"Thunderbolt!"

The lightning tore through the rain drops and just clipped Ludicolo. The big pokemon spun around and fell. It was surprisingly quick in rolling back to it's feet and firing off a water pulse. I had Pikachu dodge it with a quick attack.

"Ludicolo, return!" Lacey had apparently seen enough. "Back to you, Torterra!"

I frowned. Pikachu was essentially unable to injure the ground-typed Torterra. I had no choice but to call the electric pokemon back. Even though the rain was letting up, it was still falling so I really had one option. "Heracross, let's go!"

"Hera! Hera-cross!" the bug pokemon shouted as it recognized the type of pokemon it's opponent was. Apparently Heracross was not a big fan of torterras these days.

"Leaf storm!" Lacey yelled and Torterra's tree exploded with glowing leaves.

"Avoid it and attack with aerial ace!" I countered.

Heracross blasted into the air. The glowing leaves pounded into the ground where it had just stood. Heracross made a wide turn and began to pick up speed. Torterra tried to adjust it's aim but by that point Heracross was moving much too fast. It slammed into the grass pokemon, knocking it up onto two legs.

"Grab it!" Lacey shouted, clenching her fists. "Crunch!"

Torterra lurched around and tried to bite down on Heracross.

"Close combat!"

Torterra got a punch to the nose for it's trouble. Heracross then slammed it's horn down on top of Torterra's head, driving it down into the ground. The bug pokemon swung one leg around and swatted Torterra aside with a vicious kick. Heracross closed in and delivered a series of thundering blows to Torterra's side. The big grass pokemon stumbled again and crashed.

Then the rain stopped.

"Heracross, return!" I yelled as warm sunlight washed over me. "Charmeleon! Flamethrower!"

Charmeleon's feet had barely landed on the ground before it was shooting fire across the field. Not up on more than two feet yet, Torterra was unable to move. It was completely basted in flames. I had a good feeling about this battle now.

Then something unexpected happened.

Charmeleon's fire began to retreat.

I couldn't figure out what was going on until a glowing green storm became more clear beyond the edge of the flamethrower. Torterra was actually beating back the flamethrower with a leaf storm! For a moment I was at a loss for words. The power that it must've taken for a grass-type attack to beat back a fire-typed attack was staggering. The two attacks detonated each other.

"I told you I was going to be using my strong pokemon!" Lacey was practically jumping up and down. "You're going to need more than just fire to me! Torterra, giga impact!"

I had never seen a torterra run before. It was extremely frightening to see something that big pick up that much speed. A purple energy orb formed around it's body with orange streaks spiraling away from the front. I could feel the power even from that far way.

"Charmeleon, flamethrower!"

Torterra just kept on chugging right through the fire. It couldn't have felt good but the power of giga impact had turned Torterra into some kind of juggernaut. The grass pokemon slammed into Charmeleon. The power it had built up detonated. Charmeleon was hurled across the field. It bounced once and then crashed into a tree. The tree groaned with the impact.

As my pokemon struggled to get up, I spun back around to watch Torterra continue it's onslaught. Only it didn't move. It was like it had been frozen in time. My eyes got big as understanding dawned. Torterra had to recharge from giga impact!

"Charmeleon return!" I called. Hope was coursing through my veins. I hadn't wanted to get this deep into my team already but it was my best shot at putting Torterra away. "Steelix, your turn!"

I heard Lacey squeak as Steelix rose to it's full height on the battlefield. I couldn't believe that she'd be intimidated by my pokemon so it was obvious she knew what Steelix could do if it knew the right attacks. It did.

"Ice fang!"

Two jagged bolts of blue energy raced out from Steelix's mouth. Torterra roared in pain as they hit home, apparently done recharging. It tried to move away but all it did was change where Steelix's attack was hitting. The ice fang slid down Torterra's body and towards it's front leg where a giant chunk of ice formed. Torterra was suddenly jerked back in it's attempt to escape. It's foot was frozen to the ground.

Steelix loomed over the trapped pokemon and I shouted, "Iron tail!"

The blow was strong enough to separate Torterra from it's icy bonds. It was airborne for a dozen or so yards, impressive when you consider it weighed over six-hundred pounds. The ground shook when it landed and I lost my balance for a moment. Then I had Steelix use rock tomb. A giant pillar of rock ripped up through the ground underneath Torterra and hurled it into the sky. This landing impact was even more violent.

"No way!" I roared. Torterra was somehow still trying to get back to it's feet! "Steelix, use ice fang!"

Too weak to resist, a thin layer of ice began forming over Torterra's body. It called out in pain and using what had to be the last of it's energy, shattered the ice.

"Giga drain!" Lacey shouted.

The jagged peaks of rock on Torterra's back glowed green and then began to stretch out. They managed to wrap around the very end of Steelix's tail. They began to pulse back towards Torterra and Steelix roared in pain. My pokemon was having it's energy drained. With it's tail immobilized, three of it's attacks were neutralized as well.

"Ice fang!" It was my only hope. "Aim for the giga drain spot!"

The two blue bolts slammed into the green tendrils and exploded. The green tendrils withdrew and formed back into rocks. Torterra looked a little more fresh but it was still near the end of it's energy.

"Steelix, return!" I was really flying by the seat of my pants now. "Heracross, come back!"

There was no movement for a heartbeat as the two pokemon stared each other down. It kind of reminded me of a standoff in an old west movie.

"Torterra, leaf storm!"

"Heracross, horn attack!"

Heracross took to the air and managed to swerve out of the way of the brunt of the storm. It got clipped by a handful of leaves but kept right on flying. The bug pokemon drove it's big horn into Torterra and drove it back a few steps.

The end was near. I could feel it. "Close combat!"

Heracross batted Torterra's head from side to side with a pair of stiff cross jabs. A flying knee staggered the big grass pokemon. It weakly tried to bite at Heracross but the bug pokemon jumped up and drove both feet into Torterra's face. Lacey's pokemon's legs began to buckle and it's back legs gave out. A mighty horn strike and a powerful double handed uppercut made the front ones give out too.

"Torterra is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Heracross is the winner!"

Heracross posed triumphantly. I didn't want to laugh but I couldn't help it.

"Well done!" Lacey congratulated me. "That took some quick thinking to string together that much constant switching and battling! You kept me guessing!"

I tossed her a casual salute. "I do my best."

She gave me a big grin and held up a poke ball. "Ludicolo, come back!"

I quickly got Heracross off the field. From experience, I knew that using close combat seriously lowered Heracross' defensive capabilities. "Pikachu, your turn again!"

Before I could issue, Ludicolo was back doing the hula. Thick clouds filled the sky again. I threw my head back and sighed as the rains started again. Then a though struck me: why was she making it rain anyway? Charmeleon was already less effective due to Lacey's pokemon's type anyway.

"Ludicolo, return!" I was apparently getting my answer. "Go, Exeggutor!"

Exeggutor gave Ludicolo a run for it's money in the bizarre appearances category. It was literally a walking coconut tree. Light brown with rings going all the way up to where a series of light brown heads ringed the top below a crop of long leaves. Grass pokemon are weird.

For a moment I wasn't quite sure what to do. I knew that this newest pokemon wasn't just a grass-type. Torterra had also been a ground-type and Ludicolo was part water-type. There was just no way. However, with the rain still falling I couldn't bring out my pokedex to check my theory without risking serious damage to the device. In the end, there was really only one thing to do.

"Pikachu, thunderbolt!"

A streak of lightning seared through the rain.

I could barely make out Lacey waving her hand. "Light screen!"

Even with the downpour, I could make out the light blue glow that formed in all of Exeggutor's eyes. A shimmering gold box appeared around the grass pokemon as the thunderbolt came near. The electric attack smashed into the golden energy and streamed around it, like a river going around a big rock. When the lightning bolt was gone, the golden box faded but I was pretty sure I hadn't seen the last of it.

"Light screen…" I muttered to myself. "I'm thinking that reduces special damage? Yeah, that sounds about right. Geez, listen to me talking to myself! Pikachu, time to change tactics! Iron tail!"

Pikachu tore across the wet grass. Rain sizzled when it came into contact with energy the electric pokemon's tail was glowing with. Pikachu leapt into the air, somersaulting forward to bring it's tail down on the big grass pokemon.

"Psychic!"

Just like that I had my answer.

The light blue glow returned to Exeggutor's eyes and an aura of the same color appeared around Pikachu. All the electric pokemon's momentum was killed and it hung suspended in midair. My pokemon squirmed but it couldn't seem to break free.

"Not good! Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu erupted in lightning again. The light screen returned, filtering the brunt of the damage away from Exeggutor. It had probably only felt a slight tickle.

Lacey jerked her head to the side. Exeggutor's eyes pulsed and Pikachu was flung in the direction Lacey had indicated. Pikachu was slammed into a tree and then pealed back off by the psychic grip. The blue eyes pulsed again and Pikachu was pounded into the wet earth.

I called to my pokemon to break free but it was no use.

"Leaf storm!" Lacey yelled.

The spiral of glowing green leaves washed over my immobilized Pikachu. When the wave of leaves had passed, Exeggutor released it's psychic grip. Pikach dropped to the ground like a wet rag.

"Pikachu is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Exeggutor is the winner!"

Now I found myself in an interesting spot as the rain stopped and the sky began to clear. In theory, Grovyle would be the obvious choice to send out. It's fury cutter would be devastating to the grass/psychic combination. But on the other hand, it was one of only two pokemon I'd managed to get onto the field against Ludicolo. Charmeleon and Steelix were essentially non-factors against the water/grass combo. I needed to do all the damage I could without bringing Grovyle and Heracross into the mix.

"Charmeleon, go!"

"Exeggutor, ancient power!"

A swirling silver orb formed in front of Exeggutor's body. It hovered there for a moment and then shot out at Charmeleon.

I swore. "Son of a bitch! Dragon rage!"

Charmeleon managed to get the attack off in time. The two orbs slammed into each other and exploded. Now I had something else to worry about. With a rock-type attack like ancient power, Exeggutor could now give Charmeleon trouble. I needed to go on the offensive quickly.

"Charmeleon, flamethrower!"

It had seemed like a good idea at the time. Then I watched as the fire streamed around the light screen that I had forgotten about. I was pretty sure that I saw the grass pokemon flinch slightly but I knew that it had taken little if no damage. The only upside that I could see was that as long as the light screen was visible, Exeggutor didn't seem able to launch any attacks.

"Well now…," I said to myself. "That just might work. Charmeleon, advance on Exeggutor!"

Charmeleon dropped it's flamethrower and then began to charge it's opponent.

"No!" I yelled. "Keep the flamethrower going too!"

The fires roared back to life as Exeggutor looked like it was getting ready to launch an attack. The protective golden box reappeared. Charmeleon quickly closed the gap. Now it was only a few feet away from Exeggutor.

"Fire fang now!"

Abruptly, Charmeleon ended it's flamethrower but a fire still ranged in it's mouth. The fire pokemon leapt at the exeggutor. It was too close to counterattack. Charmeleon latched on with it's claws and then bit down. I lost sight of the two pokemon in the ensuing explosion.

Charmeleon had just bitten down with a second fire fang when I head Lacey shout, "Psychic!"

A blue aura flowed over Charmeleon and ripped my pokemon away from Exeggutor. The psychic force slammed Charmeleon into the ground.

"Return!" I just managed to tag Charmeleon with the laser from it's poke ball. "Steelix, your turn!"

Exeggutor tried to reestablish a psychic grip, this time on Steelix. Thanks to it's steel-typing, Steelix was able to fight free from the grip

"Iron tail!" I ordered.

"Block it with psychic!" Lacey countered.

A blast of light blue energy blasted out from Exeggutor's eyes. It wasn't strong enough to deflect Steelix's attack but it was powerful enough to divert it. The glowing tail smashed into the ground a few feet away from Exeggutor. Instead of being smashed flat, it was just thrown aside by the shockwave instead.

I had to capitalize on my momentum and fast. "Rock tomb!"

Steelix pounded it's tail on the ground and a giant spire of rock jabbed out of the ground. It smashed the rising Exeggutor right in the face, or at least a couple of them. The impact was powerful but somehow the grass pokemon staggered and tipped enough to stay on it's feet.

"Leaf storm!" Lacey shouted.

Even staggering around, Exeggutor managed to get aimed at Steelix. From the leaves at it's top came the spiral of glowing leaves. Steelix reared back and roared in pain as they slammed into and exploded against it's metal skin. The big steel pokemon twisted away before disappearing underground.

"You can't hide down there forever," Lacey warned me. "Steelix has to come back up at some point!"

I waggled a finger at her. "Don't be so sure! Steelix, ice fang!"

Panic seized my heart when for a moment nothing happened. Then two jagged bolts of lightening pierced the surface of the ground. Exeggute had been pivoting around in anticipation and was caught right in the bulk of the body. The big grass pokemon toppled but it clearly wasn't out of the fight. Sans hands, it had to use it's psychic powers to get itself back on it's feet.

"Steelix, return!" I ordered. "Charmeleon, go!"

I knew it was probably useless but I was hoping by continuing to switch my pokemon around that I might keep Lacey at least a little off balance. If nothing else, it at least let me vary the attacks I could throw at her pokemon.

"Flamethrower!"

Charmeleon's head rolled back and then shot forward as it expelled it's river of fire. It slammed into the light screen yet again. I grabbed at the back of my neck in frustration. If I couldn't get through that screen, I didn't have much chance.

Then the golden light screen vanished.

Fire poured over Exeggutor. All it's heads hollered in pain. The sudden impact of the flamethrower had knocked it back and it couldn't gain enough footing to lean forward so it could unleash it's leaf storm to fight back the flamethrower.

"Psychic!" Lacey screamed.

A blue aura engulfed Chameleon's flamethrower. It suddenly curved into the sky just a few feet in front of Exeggutor. The fire looped back over and slammed harmlessly into the ground ten yards or so to the side of Exeggutor. The grass pokemon did not look very happy. Char coated it's brown, bark-like body and most of it's leaves were now singed. I had finally managed to tip the scales in my favor.

I pointed at Exeggutor. "Dragon rage!"

"Psychic!"

The crackling yellow orb swerved drastically off course and exploded far off in the distance.

"Leaf storm!"

"Flamethrower!"

The fire and grass attacks barreled into each other. Even after all the abuse I had heaped upon it, Exeggutor was still more powerful than Charmeleon. The cyclone of leaves forced the flamethrower back with more ease than I would've liked to see. Abruptly the leaf storm vanished. Charmeleon was seized in the blue aura of a psychic grip and hurled across the battlefield.

I wasn't sure if Lacey knew something I didn't but she was certainly taking the offensive now. "Ancient power!"

Charmeleon had just gained it's footing again when the swirling silver attack slammed into it and exploded. The fire pokemon tumbled back to the ground, taking serious damage from the rock-type attack. It was far from out of the fight though, rolling to the side to avoid a second ancient power.

"Dragon rage!" I ordered.

"Light screen!" Lacey countered.

The shimmering golden box appeared. As the dragon rage detonated against it, I got an idea. Technically, it was a variation of something I had already done but it was still worth a shot.

"Dragon rage!" I shouted. "Then flamethrower!"

Charmeleon was back on it's feet. It spat out the crackling orb that was dragon rage and then immediately followed it up with a flamethrower. The flamethrower was faster than the dragon-type attack and it swept the orb up along with it. Pushing the dragon rage ahead of it, the two attacks slammed into the light screen practically at the same time. The golden shimmer of the light screen grew increasingly bright as it tried to deal with the massive damage I had sent it's way.

I pointed to Charmeleon. "Now! Fire fang!"

With it's vision still cloaked by the light screen and the roiling explosion it was defending against, Exeggutor never saw Charmeleon coming. The fire pokemon dove through the dissipating fireball and light screen. Latching onto Exeggutor's thick skin with it's claws, Charmeleon bit down. I lost sight of the two pokemon in the ensuing explosion. A second detonation quickly followed. The a third.

A fourth detonation didn't appear. Lacey and I waited in silence for the smoke and fire to waft away. When it did, both pokemon were still visible. Exeggutor was laying limply on the ground. Charmeleon was standing on top of it. When it knew it was visible, the fire pokemon spat a quick burst of flames into the air.

"Exeggutor is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Charmeleon is the winner!"

Lacey and I both recalled our pokemon. Her only option left was Ludicolo. As far as I could tell, my best option was Grovyle. It not only knew a move that was super-effective but was resistant to all of Ludicolo's attacks. It seemed like a no-brainer.

I wasn't entirely sure, but I think Ludicolo came out of it's poke ball doing the hula and summoning back the rainstorms. With a sigh, I accepted the downpour yet again. I wasn't going to be dry for a week.

"Grovyle, energy ball!" I ordered just for a change of pace.

Grovyle pulled it's claws back to form the green ball. It hurled it forward and to my surprise, it slammed into the golden light screen! I had faced a pokemon using light screen before but I had never seen it transfer from pokemon to pokemon like that. Although as I thought back, it had never had a chance to transfer to other pokemon in any of my previous battles.

"That's a surprise," I muttered to myself and then to Grovyle, "Quick attack!"

Even in the wet, muddy terrain Grovyle was still fast as lightning. A streak of white followed in it's wake. Suddenly Ludicolo was no longer in front of it.

Grovyle and I both yelled out in surprise as Ludicolo was now off to it's side.

"Water pulse!" Lacey shouted.

Ludicolo held up it's big, mitten-like hands to form the big ball of water. It pushed it out and it rocketed into Grovyle, taking my pokemon clear off it's feet. My pokemon quickly climbed back to it's feet and shot me a look. Neither of us was quite sure what had happened.

"Water pulse!" the Gym Leader repeated.

Now Ludicolo appeared right behind Grovyle. My grass pokemon just barely had time to turn around before it was taken down by another water pulse.

Something was starting to make sense to me now. When I had faced it earlier, Ludicolo had just barely been clipped by a few attacks and then pasted Grovyle with an energy ball with surprising accuracy. I looked up into the sky. It had something to do with the rain. That could be the only reason Lacey kept bringing it into play. Charmeleon and Steelix were already less effective against Ludicolo so there was no sense in using the rain to keep them off the field. Then it hit me:

_The rain was making Ludicolo faster!_

I actually smacked myself for not realizing it sooner. Between making Ludicolo faster and boosting the power of it's water-type attack, the rain was like almost like using a cheat code in real life. That being said, Grovyle was still probably my best option to have on the field.

"Grovyle, use quick attack!"

Ludicolo may have been faster in the rain but it still wasn't as fast as my grovyle using quick attack. The smaller grass pokemon slammed into the bigger one, knocking it backwards.

"Fury cutter!"

Grovyle got in two good, quick hits before Ludicolo regained it's balance. Ludicolo began dancing backwards as it evading Grovyle's onslaught. Grovyle was just fast enough to keep the big grass pokemon contained but not fast enough to actually be able to inflict damage without using quick attack.

"Ludicolo, razor leaf!"

Ludicolo held up it's hands and a spray of dark green leaves came at Grovyle. The leaves shattered as they pounded into my pokemon, sending it stumbling backwards. For an attack that was supposed to be not very effective it still packed a decent punch.

"Energy ball!" Lacey yelled.

Her pokemon put it's hands up in front of it's body and the green ball formed there. With a gentle push Ludicolo sent it rocketing towards Grovyle. Still off balance, Grovyle couldn't recover in time to dodge it and I lost sight of my pokemon in the ensuing explosion.

"Water pulse!"

It's hands still in the same position, the orb of water formed in front of Ludicolo. I could actually see the water pulse getting bigger as falling rain was absorbed into the forming attack. With the same gentle push, Ludicolo sent the water pulse rocketing towards Grovyle. I screamed for my pokemon to get out of there. I never saw it emerge from the fading explosion as the water pulse splashed into something.

"Grovyle is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Ludicolo is the winner!"

"Good work," I said to my pokemon after I recalled it. "You inflicted some serious damage."

As I tucked the shrunken ball back into my holster, I craned my neck back to look into the sky. Dark clouds were still spitting rain down on us. It had been raining for quite a while now. At the edges of some of the clouds I could see them starting to dissolve. I only had to last a little longer and then the rain would be gone.

"Second time's the charm!" I announced as I grabbed a poke ball off my belt. "Staraptor, you're up again!"

The bird pokemon looked even less happy to see me this time. It shook violently in a vain attempt to shed the water that was quickly collecting on it's feathers. If looks could kill, it would've killed me on the spot.

This time Lacey had no hesitation in attacking. "Energy ball!"

"Move Staraptor!"

Staraptor did as I had commanded but I was fairly certain it was more out self-preservation than out of a sense of duty. I had wondered if the flying pokemon would have difficulty staying airborne in the rain but so far Staraptor was showing no signs of straining to keep aloft.

It was time for the moment of truth. "Staraptor, aerial ace!"

"Use razor leaf, Ludicolo!"

I wasn't exactly held in suspense long. Instead of diving and picking up speed and energy, Staraptor split into eight copies of itself. While using double team had successfully avoided Ludicolo's attack it was a far cry from what I had ordered.

"Still having technical difficulties?" Lacey called to me, a playful note in her tone.

"Maybe a little." I tried to make it look like I was looking at her but in fact I was taking note of the easing rain. "We'll work through it. Staraptor, take down!"

"Water pulse!"

This time I got glowing wings which Staraptor used in an attempt to diffuse the water pulse. The water-typed attack was stronger than it had bargained for and the flying pokemon was knocked from the sky. Now it's anger was divided between me and the pokemon that had just bested it. As it dove at Ludicolo without waiting for a command, I silently wished I had had a chance to get Butterfree or Haunter back from Professor Oak before coming here.

"Ludicolo, energy ball!"

White energy began to stream from the tip of Staraptor's beak as it picked up speed. It corkscrewed around the incoming energy ball and then slammed into Ludicolo with aerial ace. The big grass pulled an arm back and slammed an water pulse into Staraptor. The flying pokemon crashed to the ground. That might've been the end for Staraptor but I didn't wait to find out. The rain had lightened to a faint drizzle.

"Staraptor, return! Heracross, take us home!"

"Razor leaf!"

Heracross took a long step to it's left and then jumped into flight as the cloud of razor leaves smashed into the ground where it had been. Ludicolo tried to track my pokemon with it's spray of leaves but Heracross quickly flew out of range.

"Aerial ace!" I shouted.

Stopping it's backwards momentum, Heracross pulled an arm and a leg back like it was going to start running and then zipped back in the direction of Ludicolo. White energy began stream from it's horn as it built up speed.

"Water pulse!" Lacey ordered.

Sunlight pierced the clouds as the water pulse formed. A much smaller water pulse than I had been used to seeing. As Ludicolo launched it, I knew it was dangerous nonetheless.

"Do a barrel roll!"

Heracross swung out, up and around the incoming water pulse, letting it pass by harmlessly. Ludicolo tried to start backpedaling and found that it's speed had returned back to normal. Heracross plowed into Ludicolo, knocking it clear off it's feet. The bug pokemon pulled up in a short arc and charged back after it's opponent.

I stuck a fist straight out. "Close combat!"

As Ludicolo bounced once off the ground, Heracross drove a flying kick into it's side. The sudden change in direction clearly disoriented the ludicolo as it had trouble regaining it's sense of balance. Heracross was quickly on top of it. It buried it's horn into Ludicolo's midsection and then heaved backwards. Showing more strength than I realized it had, Heracross threw the rotund grass pokemon back over it's shoulders. With a quick buzz of it's wings Heracross got a few feet in the air and then snapped it's wings back closed. It stuck out an elbow and used gravity to drive it into Ludicolo's chest. Bouncing back it it's feet, Heracross jumped atop Ludicolo and rained down punches. Ludicolo only escaped after forming an energy ball off to the side in one hand and slamming it against Heracross.

"Rain dance!" Lacey yelled to her pokemon that was struggling to get up. "And hurry!"

"Oh no you don't!" I roared. "Night slash!"

As Ludicolo's arms flowed to the left for the first part of it's hula dance, Heracross appeared in front of it's face. It slashed a glowing purple arm across Ludicolo's face and then dropped down and drove the other glowing arm into it's stomach. Ludicolo dropped to a thick knee and it was clear to all that the end was near.

"Finish it with another night slash!" I shouted.

Heracross pulled both glowing arms back and threw them forward together. Ludicolo sailed backwards in a surprisingly graceful arc. It crashed to the ground, throwing mud everywhere. A final few drops of rain landed on it's beak as Lacey and I awaited the referee's decision.

"Ludicolo is unable to battle! Victory for the challenger Tim and Heracross!"

"Way to go!" I shouted as I rushed the bug pokemon and scooped it into a hug. I regretted it only slightly when some of the spiky extensions on it's arms put a gash into my bicep.

"Well done!" Lacey said as she skipped over. "That was fun! I hope all your friends are this much fun to battle!"

The referee approached and snapped a picture of me and Heracross. I had wanted to get all my pokemon in the shot but I was told it was tradition to just have the final victorious pokemon in the picture. After a satisfactory picture was taken, I gave all my pokemon to the referee who I had forgotten doubled as the nurse.

"Speaking of my friends," I said to Lacey, "where are they? I figured they'd be watching."

Lacey giggled. "There's more than just me and Nicole here." I assumed she meant the nurse. "There's a few other people roaming around here and the pokemon make sure to keep everyone back. Being grass-types, they tend to root for me and try to keep new challengers back so they don't pick up on my techniques."

I glanced back over my shoulder at the battlefield. It was completely soaked and half the grass was torn up to reveal mud. A giant pair of holes still remained from where Steelix had gone underground. "No offense, but they were probably able to pick up on them from pretty far away. A rain storm isn't exactly subtle."

"Oh come on." She rolled her blue eyes at me. "You can't honestly believe that's the only trick I have up my sleeve do you? I'm a Gym Leader! Besides, depending on how many pokemon they use, I'll be adjusting my team."

I hadn't thought about that. "So you have a trio of pokemon for every amount of pokemon your opponent might use?"

"Nope." Lacey ran her fingers through her drenched hair as she talked, trying to untangle it. "I have at least three different teams for every amount of pokemon I might face."

I stared at her in fascination for a moment. That meant she had at least fifty-four different pokemon that she had raised and trained. I had twenty-one pokemon (twenty-eight if you included evolutions) and I really only raised and trained ten of them. The level of commitment she had devoted to her profession was astounding. Then again, there probably wasn't much else to do out here in the middle of nowhere.

"Come on!" Lacey said brightly, bouncing off. "Let's get you registered as a victor and paid!"

She lead me to a small hut near the edge of our battlefield. I hadn't noticed it earlier but some damage to the grass nearby told me that either Pikachu or Charmeleon might've almost set the thing on fire if not for all the rain. Inside was a small wooden table with a safe beneath it. On the table was laptop computer with cords running out to the generator, a small satellite dish for what I assumed was internet connection and a card swiper.

"Have a seat," Lacey said, indicating one of the two light colored wooden chairs next to the table.

As I sat down and realized how stiff my legs were, Lacey squatted down to the safe. I picked at my clothes while she punched in her code and pulled something out. With all the moisture in the air, it would take forever for them to dry.

"Here we go!" Lacey shot back to her feet so quickly that it started me. She extended her hand with the badge in it. It was shaped kind of like a flower. It was silver on the inside with a rainbow of petals going around the outside. I took it carefully and then realized I didn't have my pack to tuck it into.

"Oh, one of my grass pokemon grabbed it," Lacey explained with a wave of her hand. "I've usually got one or two roaming around behind challengers just in case I use rain dance. Figured it was a good idea after a few trainers had stuff ruined by the downpour. Ah, here we go!" A walking mass of greenish-blue vines strolled into the hut with my back held aloft in outstretched vines. "Thanks Tangela!"

As the pokemon walked off, I secured the badge with my other three. Lacey was tapping a few buttons on her computer and then demanded my trainer card. I swiped it through the reader. The light on the reader turned green and Lacey gave me a thumbs up.

"All set! You are officially registered as a champion of the Everglades Gym!"

She came at me quickly and gave me a hug that I returned awkwardly.

"You should go find Nicole," Lacey said, leading me out of the hut. "She can show you where the clothesline is if you want to dry your clothes a little faster. I think we'll be seeing some abundant sunshine soon." She winked at me. "Don't tell your friends though!"

Just like that, she was gone. It might've been me, but I was pretty sure that the Gym Leaders were getting progressively weirder.

It felt good to be in dry clothes again. My wet ones including my shoes hung from a clothesline not far from the battlefield. With pokemon in hand, I went and found a secluded spot. Dylan was battling right now and I wanted to watch him, mostly to find out how many pokemon he used, but I had a more important task first. I found a patch of dry grass to stand on and then pulled a poke ball from my belt. Tossing it into the air brought Staraptor out.

I crossed my arms over my chest as it landed in front of me. "Ok, let's talk. You've clearly got an issue with me. What's your deal? I caught you fair and square."

Staraptor apparently disagreed. It began cawing at me and moving it's wings around to emphasize points. Unfortunately, I understood none of what it was saying. Then it made a noise. It was a buzzing noise almost like an electrical current. Living out in the Everglades like it had, there wasn't really anyway for it to know that noise. Unless…

"Hold up." I held up a hand and it surprisingly stopped. "Make that noise again." The flying pokemon buzzed again. "Is that my pikachu? Are you mad about Pikachu?"

Staraptor made a noise that I'm sure would've translated to "Finally!"

I considered this for a moment. "You're mad about Pikachu… So, you didn't like that I captured you using Pi-" Then it hit me. "You didn't like that I battled you with Pikachu! You think I had an unfair advantage?"

"Star! Star-aptor!"

This was certainly interesting. Granted I had only been a trainer for less than half a year but I'd never heard of a pokemon complaining that it had been caught unfairly. As far as I could discern, Staraptor was making a claim that if I hadn't had a type advantage it would've defeated me and still been free. When I voiced this thought, it chirped back what sounded like an agreement.

"Ok, let's make a deal then," I said. "Double or nothing. We'll battle again and this time I'll use a pokemon that doesn't have a type advantage over you. I win, you stay with me and we try to coexist. You win and you can go free. If I see you on the way out, I won't try to recapture you again either. Deal?"

I extended my hand to shake and as I realized that it was probably a stupid gesture and started to pull it back, Staraptor reached a wing out. It gave me more like a high-five than a handshake but the meaning was clear: we had a deal. Staraptor flapped it's wings and dropped back a few paces to give me room.

There was only one real option for me. "Charmeleon, let's go!"

Staraptor shot into the sky and looped around, bearing down on my pokemon with an aerial ace.

I calmly pointed and waited for the flying pokemon to close the gap, "Dragon rage!"

By waiting until the last second to issue the order, Staraptor had no chance to respond. The crackling yellow orb slammed into it and detonated. Staraptor spiraled out of control and crashed to the grass.

"Flamethrower!"

A solid pillar of fire scooped Staraptor off the ground and drove it into a nearby tree. As flames sprayed everywhere, I felt a twinge of pity for Staraptor. This had been it's idea but the only pokemon that I had that wasn't at a type advantage or disadvantage was also my strongest pokemon. The flying-type pokemon probably would've had better luck facing Pikachu again.

"Now use slash!"

Charmeleon's claws glowed a bright white and increased in length. It raked them across a charging Staraptor forming an X and sending Staraptor crashing back into the tree. The tree creaked dangerously as a crack appeared where the staraptor had impacted it twice now.

I sighed. "Sorry Staraptor but I think it's game over."

The defiant pokemon pushed itself up, using it's wings like arms. As soon as it was standing it split into eight copies of itself. A grin tugged at my mouth. Staraptor certainly had spunk, I'd give it that.

"Flamethrower!" I yelled. "Sweep them all!"

Staraptor and it's images took flight as Charmeleon's fires roared back to life. Swinging it's head from left to right the flamethrower trailed like a whip, instantly vaporizing false images until it swiped the real Staraptor aside. Feathers now badly charred Staraptor spiraled wildly out of control and crashed into a mud puddle.

"Good effort!" I said in all sincerity as I threw Staraptor's poke ball.

The ball bounced off the downed pokemon and sucked it inside. There was no struggle this time. I wasn't sure if it was because Staraptor was honoring our deal or because technically I had already captured the pokemon. Either way, I calmly walked over to retrieve the ball and collected Charmeleon to take back to the nurse.

After a quick healing I headed over to the battlefield to watch the last bit of Dylan's battle. As I watched, I realized that he was in a much better position for this gym than I was. Against grass-types my offense revolved around Charmeleon and Heracross since Staraptor wasn't obeying yet. Dylan had his quilava as the centerpiece of his offense but had better supporting players than I did. His Croagunk had super-effective poison on it's side; Dustox had psychic and flying moves at it's disposal; Gliscor had fire-, bug- and poison-typed moves to use. The biggest surprise came when Dylan unleashed his newly caught scyther onto the field. Unlike my staraptor, it obeyed him without hesitation, giving him another pokemon with bug and flying attacks.

That didn't mean he had a cake walk though. I had missed what Lacey's first pokemon was but I saw her other two as she swapped them out. One of them was unmistakable an evolution of an eevee. It looked very similar only a lighter color and it's ears and tail seemed to go from flesh to leaves at the ends. A big leaf also curled out from it's forehead. The leafeon was incredibly quick and wielding more than just grass attacks. The other pokemon I saw I recognized as a jumpluff. It was round and blue with a cotton spore on each side and one above it's head. It's secondary flying-type helped insulate it from bug-typed attacks, of which Dylan had a few.

Lacey was actually employing almost the opposite strategy she used against me. Instead of summoning the rains, she kept summoning the bright sun. At first this boggled my mind when I saw how powerful it made Gliscor and Quilava's fire attacks. Then I saw how fast it made Jumpluff. Jumpluff had been fast before, probably faster than my fasted pokemon, but the sun made it insanely quick. I could blink and miss it moving long distances. It danced with ease around Gliscor and then knocked it from the air with a devastating solar beam.

As Gliscor was declared unable to battle, I really began to admire how skilled Lacey actually was in battle. There had to be a multitude of strategies swarming around in her head, some building on consecutive moves by different pokemon. She was actually offering her opponent an advantage at the moment in favor of boosting her own advantage as opposed to what she had done to me. I couldn't help but shake my head. If someone ever noticed the poor girl way out here, she might be part of the Elite Four some day.

It became clear to me as I continued to watch that Dylan was not at as much as an advantage as I had previously thought. When his scyther was taken out he started a rotation between his quilava and his croagunk. It occurred to me that I hadn't seen anything besides those three and his previously defeated gliscor. I was pretty sure that these two pokemon might be his last, although I had no way to be sure since I didn't know how many he had started with.

Leafeon was the first to fall. The sun faded as it was readying a solar beam, making it wait to charge up enough power. Quilava and it's flamethrower had no such wait time. The tidal wave of fire swept Leafeon off it's feet and deposited it in front of it's trainer.

Despite the obvious type disadvantage, Dylan switched to Croagunk when Jumpluff reemerged onto the field. Jumpluff's cotton spores glowed a brilliant white and then released a trio of blindly bright orbs into the sky. They disappeared high above us and I could feel the intense heat as the effects of Sunny Day came back into play.

Jumpluff slammed into Croagunk with an aerial ace. Before Croagunk could counter with it's poison sting, Jumpluff had fired off a solar beam. Croagunk threw up dual poison jabs in an attempt to block the solar beam. The two attacks detonated, throwing the two pokemon apart. A plume of black smoke wafted into the air.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me," I groaned.

The black smoke floated in front of the bright sun, momentarily blocking it out.

"Sucker punch!" Dylan roared.

Croagunk materialized in front of Jumpluff and buried a fist into it's round body. A spray of poison sting put some distance between the two pokemon and then Croagunk closed it again with a poison jab. It was readying another when the sun emerged again. Jumpluff flattened it with a solar beam.

Dylan made a quick swap to let Croagunk rest up and took advantage of the sun with Quilava. Jumpluff may have been fast enough to keep dodging flamethrowers but it wasn't fast enough to get closer. Then abruptly Dylan had Quilava racing off with a quick attack. Quilava eventually caught Jumpluff and bodily checked it into a tree. The grass pokemon bounced off and right into a waiting flamethrower.

I didn't bother waiting around for the referee to declare the match over; it was pretty clear that it was. Thanks to Lacey's particular strategy the clothes that I had hung near the battlefield were essentially dry. My shoes were still a little damp but I removed them from the clothesline anyway incase she decided to break out the rain techniques again.

Dylan walked out of the winner's hut as I was finishing tying my shoes to my pack and gave me a weird look.

"Shut up," I said. "It rained during my battle. It rained a lot."

He laughed. "Yeah, we could see that even from where we were. The way those clouds were only over the battlefield it was pretty obvious one of you had called them in. I take it it wasn't you?"

"Why would I?" I asked, slinging the pack over my shoulder. "No way would I use water pokemon against a grass-type Gym Leader."

"So why did she?" Dylan asked.

"Ever seen a ludicolo?"

He thought for a moment. "Kind of looks like a big pineapple with a sombrero? Yeah, why?"

"They get really fast in the rain and it boosts their water-type attacks. Fire pokemon are helpless basically."

Dylan made a face.

I sighed. "She also had a light screen around it too. Between the rain and the light screen, things were not easy."

"Could be worse," Dylan said with a shrug as we approached the area we had eaten lunch in.

"How do you figure?" I dropped my pack and lowered myself into a chair.

"David's battling right now. He has no fire pokemon. He has a golbat and a scyther that are effective against grass. One of his two strongest is weak against grass. Compared to what he's probably going through, we had a cake walk."

There was an explosion in the distance that accentuated his point nicely.


	38. Chapter 38

"You know, I never realized how much of pokemon training making things explode really was," I said as we started towards the battlefield. "When you stop and think about it… I mean come on."

Dylan laughed. "You've kind of got a point. A lot of explosions are byproducts of other things though. They just aren't straight up explosive attacks." He paused and then said, "Speaking of explosions, have you seen Vanessa lately?"

I wasn't quite sure how he made that transition but I realized I hadn't. "I haven't seen her since I left for my match. Hasn't she been with you and David the whole time?"

"Not now that I think about it," he said with a shake of his head. "I wonder where she got off to. She's obviously not watching. I tried to go watch you and a small army of bellsprout backed me down."

I laughed. "I was wondering about that. Lacey had said something about keeping others away from the field."

"At first they didn't seem all that menacing. Then there was a lot of them and I was pretty sure I could see a couple other pokemon lurking the trees. It was best not to mess with them."

We stopped at the makeshift pokemon center first. Dylan picked up his pokemon and I got back Charmeleon and Staraptor. When my friend gave me a weird look as I only collected two pokemon I told him of my second battle with Staraptor.

"Are you serious?" he laughed. "It was upset because you beat it with a pokemon that had a type advantage? You should let Professor Oak or Birch or someone know about that. I'm sure that's an article just waiting to be published."

"You laugh but I guess Staraptor does have a bit of a point. I'd have been pissed off too."

"It was probably more pissed that it got caught. The whole electric-type thing just compounded it."

I had to tread carefully as we finished our trek to the battlefield. Without my shoes, even the smallest rock became deadly. I didn't see one and it was like stepping on a Lego. Absolute agony.

When we arrived, it seemed like things were not going well for David. Sweat was pouring down his back, probably a little from the extreme sunlight but a lot of it seemed to be from frustration. Lacey's current pokemon, a gigantic pile of blue vines that I initially thought was just a big tangela, was enjoying a speed boost from the sunlight. David's scyther was pretty quick but not fast enough.

"Tangrowth, use focus blast!" Lacey shouted.

"Double team Shinagami!" David countered.

As the scyther split into copies, I turned to Dylan. "What the hell did he call it?"

"Shinagami," Dylan repeated slowly, sounding it out. "I think he said it was like some ancient Japanese god of death. Something like that."

I watched the bug pokemon for a moment before saying, "Personally, I would've saved that name for a pokemon a little more intimidating. I mean a scyther is pretty cool but there's better uses for a god of death's name."

Dylan snorted. "Aren't you the one who used to refer to your charmander as the 'rage of the inferno' and your treecko as 'The Destroyer'?"

That shut me up.

On the field, David's use of double team had paid off. Tangrowth had targeted the wrong pokemon. The image dissolved and the rest advanced. The big scythes glowed red with a fury cutter attack that with all the scyther images still out there, looked like it was coming from all sides. Things were looking good until Tangrowth shuddered and orange powder leaked out from between it's vines. Shinagami screeched as the orange cloud enveloped it.

"Uh oh," I said. "Stun spore."

Tangrowth stepped away from Shinagami and held up it's long arms. A swirling silver orb formed as Lacey ordered for an ancient power. The quadruple-effective attack was enough to knock the flying- and bug-type out of the battle. I wasn't entirely sure but the way David was gazing at the poke ball in his hand, it looked like he was down to his last pokemon.

"Are they each on their last pokemon now?" I asked.

Dylan shot me a look. "I got here the same time you did, remember?"

I ignored him. Scanning the field, I saw the referee on the side of the field. I tried to wave to get her attention. Lacey saw me first and waved back enthusiastically. _That girl is weird, _I thought. Finally the ref saw me and tilted her head inquisitively. I held up one finger on each hand, sliding them apart. She realized that I was asking how many pokemon each trainer had left and nodded. I relayed my findings to Dylan.

"This should be good," Dylan said. "I wonder why he's taking so long though. Maybe all he's got left is his wartortle?"

"Honestly, I'd be surprised if he even brought it into battle. I'm pretty sure he could make a team of six without using Vlad."

"Would he though?"

"Good question."

We got our answer as David threw his last poke ball onto the field. Duke the mankey was his final pokemon. I wasn't quite sure why he had hesitated so long. A fighting pokemon wasn't necessarily a bad match up against a grass-type. From the attacks Tangrowth had shown so far, I hadn't seen anything that was going to be super-effective.

"Ah, there we go." I looked over to see Dylan staring into the sky, the sun reflecting off his glasses.

I looked up and didn't see anything special. The sky was a pretty blue at this point in the afternoon though. Then it hit me: that was the point. Just a few moments ago, the sun had been blazing hot. Now that it had returned to normal, Tangrowth's speed boost would have faded.

"That should make things easier," I said.

"Maybe," Dylan replied as he lowered his head back down. "We still haven't seen a grass-type attack out of Tangrowth. I wonder what it has up it's sleeve."

"Stun spore is a grass move."

"Yeah, but not an attacking move. I can't imagine Lacey not having at least one grass attack from what I've seen so far."

I couldn't disagree so we just had to wait. Not long either.

"Tangrowth!" Lacey shouted. "Power whip!"

Tangrowth pulled it's two main arms back. A thick purple glow formed around them as it swung them at Duke. The mankey skittered out of the way as the two arms smashed into the ground, throwing chunks of soil everywhere. Duke front flipped over one arm onto the second and began charging up towards it's opponent's main body. The second arm swung back across. Duke was sent soaring and slammed into a tree. The small white pokemon scrambled into the tree as Tangrowth lumbered after it.

I sniffed the air as the scent of scorched earth touched my nose. "That was some serious power."

Dylan had his pokedex out and was researching the attack already. He said something about it being one of the more powerful grass-type moves but I was busy watching Duke leap from tree to tree dodging focus blasts. The mankey suddenly lashed out with it's tail and caught onto a branch. It swung around in a rapid arc and launched itself at Tangrowth. Duke crossed it's arms in front of it's body in an X, a slight white glow surrounding them. Slamming full force into Tangrowth, Duke sent the big plant pokemon stumbling.

"Brick break!" David ordered.

Duke recovered and jumped at Tangrowth. It slammed a paw that crackled with lightning down in between Tangrowth's eyes. The grass-type pokemon tumbled over, crashing hard. Duke scrambled up onto the downed pokemon to rain down another blow and caught an ancient power for it's trouble.

"Man, I hope that David has already done some damage to that thing," Dylan muttered. "If it's like all the rest of Lacey's pokemon, that thing is going to be beastly."

Just like he said, Tangrowth was already back up on it's feet. Duke was back on it's feet too. I knew size didn't really matter when it came to pokemon but the way Tangrowth towered over Duke, things looked dour.

"Power whip!"

Faster than I would've thought it could move, Tangrowth was swinging it's big arms at David's mankey. Duke was flattened before it could even make a sound. Even as far away as we were, we could hear Duke grunting and straining to lift the big vine arm. The thin arms trembled as it slowly lifted the arm up. Then the other arm slammed down on it.

"Duke!" David shouted. "No! Fight!" There was no movement below Tangrowth's arms.

The ref raised an arm to signal the end of the match. Before her arm reached full extension, beams of light shot out from beneath Tangrowth's arms and between it's fingers. The two arms were thrown back and a glowing form rose from the crater. It was almost three times the size that Duke had started out as. The tail it had had as a mankey had disappeared. Studded metal bangles encircled it's wrists and ankles. Hands had turned into what looked like boxing gloves. A vein throbbed above big white eyes set within cream colored fur.

Duke had gone from mankey to primeape.

Dylan and I offered up a polite round of applause. It seemed like the right thing to do. Just then, there was a vibration in my pocket. I had forgotten that I had switched my phone back on to check the time earlier. When I pulled it out, it showed that my mom was calling. Turning around and stepping away from the field I answered it. "Hello?"

"Hi…. Thoug-… wish… day!"

It was clearly amazing that the call had gone through at all. The reception was hideous. I couldn't have been getting more than every third word. Mom kept talking, clearly oblivious to the issue.

"Mom!" I tried to get her attention. "Mom! I have no reception! I can't hear you!" I wasn't sure if I needed to shout but it seemed necessary. "I'm going to hang up and if it's important, call right back and leave a voicemail and I'll leave immediately! You hear me? Call back and leave a voicemail if it's important."

I heard what I was pretty sure was an affirmative so I closed my phone. A minute passed with the only noise being battle sounds and Dylan yelling excitedly about something. Content that my mom wasn't calling back with bad news I turned the phone back off and turned back to the battle. It was over. Duke stood victoriously in front of a facedown Tangrowth, pumping it's fists in the air.

"Oh man!" Dylan laughed. "You missed it! That was great!"

"Missed what?" I asked.

He didn't respond as he started heading towards David. I shrugged and followed. It couldn't have been too awesome if he wasn't even going to recall it for me. David was lead off the field before we got to him so we just headed back to the area we had eaten lunch. Our chairs were still set up so we flopped down to relax.

"You know, it's kind of nice here." I was letting my head droop backwards over the back of the chair. "Clear skies, lots of foliage and lot's of wide open spaces."

Dylan laced his hands behind his head and kicked his feet up onto another chair. "No cell phone reception, slow as dirt internet connection and the only food is what some guy brings every once in a while."

"You raise excellent concerns."

"It's a nice place to visit for a day or two but no way I'd want to live here." Dylan paused as Lacey appeared in the distance with David. "Although the scenery is nice."

"Where is your other friend?" Lacey asked when she and David got close. "I thought you'd all be battling today."

Dylan dropped his feet off the chair and sat up straight. "That's a good question. I haven't seen her in quite a while." He looked at me.

"Last time I saw her was right before I battled and that was quite a while ago."

"She's in one of the huts," said a new voice behind us. I let my head drop back over the chair's edge to see the girl who had been the pokemon center nurse and referee standing there. "She wanted a nap and was making a battle strategy."

"Thanks Allison," Lacey said and then turned back to us. "So what about you guys? Are you going to stay for dinner? It's already getting close to that time and it'll get dark soon after."

Lacey and Allison were apparently in dire need of company. It had been more than a while since the last trainers had been here and they just wanted someone new to talk to. After a few minutes of needling, we agreed to stay for dinner and most likely the night. When they went to start preparing for dinner, a third girl appeared. She looked enough like Allison with her long black hair that they could've been sisters. Dylan asked and it turned out they were.

For living out in a swamp, the three girls really knew how to cook. They provided us with easily the best meal we'd had in quite some time. Lacey convinced us that it shouldn't be just us relaxing and that we should let out pokemon out to do the same. It got a little crowded when Steelix and the pair of gyarados emerged but they managed to not crush anything. Electabuzz, Ivysaur, Heracross and Sandslash all kept giving each other dirty looks and we had to keep making sure they stayed separated. Lacey's tangrowth played peacekeeper while the trainers told stories long into the night.

It turned out this was far from the first time trainers had spent the night in the swamp. There was a trio of huts that all had several hammocks hung from the walls. David, Dylan and I shared one of them. We hung from the walls in a triangular pattern, each of our heads at the base of the others feet. It didn't take long for us to fall asleep.

_I found myself in a massive forest, only forest didn't really do it justice. I couldn't have really called it a jungle either but it was immense and beautiful. No buildings punctured the skyline in any direction I could see. The sounds of life swirled through the trees but I couldn't make out any sources. Things were definitely moving around in the immediate area but all I could see was faint shadows._

_A voice punctured my thoughts. "He sees again." It was a raspy voice, almost like someone with a deep voice had a serious cold. The words were faint though._

_It was answered by another voice. This one was higher and melodious. I couldn't understand what it said._

"_Yet he sees it," the first voice responded._

_I spun around, trying to find the source of the voices. After three complete revolutions I saw something. Two specters floated just a half dozen feet away from me. The more visible one had an hourglass figure with something billowing from it's head. It stood on no legs that I could see but then again, I could barely see what I did. The second was merely just a distortion of the light. I could make out no details whatsoever._

_The melodious voice spoke again._

"_Sees us?" the raspy voice sounded surprised. One blue eye became visible in the first specter. It fixed itself on me. "He does. This means?"_

_I strained but couldn't make out what the melodious voice was saying. It became slightly more visible. I thought I could make our a triangular shape to it's body._

"_The stone," said the rasp. "Could the stone aid him?"_

_More unintelligible melodies._

"_Agreed. The others?"_

_More melodies._

"_We shall-" the specters began to fade._

"_Hey!" I shouted at them. "Hey! What are you talking about? Who are you?"_

_The fade stopped. The blue eye fixed me with an icy stare._

"_It is not knowledge you require," the rasp said._

I bolted upright in my hammock. A thin sheen of sweat covered my whole body. The sun was just becoming visible on the horizon. I started to swing my feet over the edge of my hammock when Dylan shot up. David followed suit a moment later.

"I had the weirdest dream," Dylan croaked.

"Bet I can top it," I said.

"I dreamed I was in some weird forest I'd never seen before." David beat us to it. He was looking down at his hands like he wasn't sure if he was awake yet. "I'd never seen anything like it. I couldn't see anything living but there was definitely two shadows or something there. I… I think they were talking about me but I couldn't hear what they were saying."

"What. The. Hell." Dylan dropped off his bunk. "That was my dream! Only I could hear one of them. It was kind of… of… melodious, I guess? It had kind of a sing-song voice. It said something about how I could see them."

"The other one had a raspy voice," I added. They turned to look at me. "I could see them too. I couldn't heard the sing-song one though." I paused. "The only difference is that I've seen that forest before. I had a dream about it while we were on Trainers' Pass."

Dylan thought back for a moment. "I remember that."

"I had forgotten until now," I admitted with a shrug. "Hadn't seemed relevant."

"So we all had the same weird dream, only with slight variations." David dropped to the floor and took a moment to steady himself. "What does it mean? I couldn't heard them. Did they say anything of use?"

"Not really…" I trailed off as something the raspy one said came back to me. I jumped down and grabbed my pack. I plunged my hands in and started discarding items. Dylan and David crowded around me. The pair of shorts I was looking for was wadded up at the bottom of my back. I felt around them for a moment and then tossed them aside. In the very bottom of the bag underneath some socks was what I was looking for. Until the specter had said something, I had forgotten I had it.

"You still have this?" Dylan exclaimed as he took it from me. It was the miniature fire stone that he had shown me while we were raiding Team Rocket's base back in Pallet Town. I had slipped it into my pocket without thinking.

"One of the shadows mentioned a stone," I explained. "That's the only stone I have and I'm pretty sure they were talking about me when they mentioned it."

David took the stone and turned it over in his hands. "It seems like a normal fire stone only smaller. How is this special?"

I thought back. "I remember it got warm when I put it by Charmeleon's poke ball. Other than that, I don't know. It sure doesn't seem like it has mystic powers."

David gave it back to me and I found it a more secure location in my backpack. We all changed our clothes and headed out to the common area. The thought of our similar dreams was forgotten when we found Lacey and Vanessa already waiting for us despite the early hour. Vanessa looked like a mess. There were bags under her eyes, her hair was unkempt and it looked like she hadn't slept at all. Lacey on the other hand was as bouncy and cheerful as ever.

"Hi guys!" she called, waving enthusiastically. "Good morning! I'm surprised you just now woke up!"

"Why's that?" I asked, dropping into a chair.

"Well we just finished our battle like forty minutes ago!"

Lacey told us how Vanessa had challenged her to a battle in the middle of the night. It certainly made sense to me. If there was no sun, you couldn't make it intense and speed up grass pokemon. Only it turned out you still could. Lacey explained that sunny day could still be used and that the pokemon would just create a substitute sun. Vanessa had eventually prevailed despite this turn of events and our group was free to continue on our way. Lacey fed us breakfast and then we were on our way.

As we backtracked our way out of the swamps I kept my eyes peeled. There was no way I was going to miss out on catching a scyther this time. To my dismay, there were none to be found. We caught sight of a few wild pokemon but none stuck around long enough to even be identified.

The big open field that we had spent the night in two days ago greeted us soon. The green grass sure looked comforting for a break but we plowed back into the swamps in an attempt to get as close to civilization as we could before the night fell. It took us two days to completely clear the swamps which was one day less than it took us to get all the way in.

As soon as we were free of the clutches of the murky swamps and their intense humidity, we immediately powered up our phones and other devices. My phone began beeping the second it was up and running. I had six voicemails. My blood ran cold as I quickly accessed my voicemail. There was no reason I should have that many messages unless something was wrong. Then I listened to the first message. It was my grandparents. They were singing Happy Birthday. The second was my parents wishing me a happy birthday. The others contained similar well wishes.

"I missed my birthday…" I said, a tinge of sadness in my voice.

Dylan looked up. "What?"

I looked at the calendar on my phone before answering. "We were in the swamps for my birthday. I got a bunch of voicemails from my family wishing me a happy birthday." I looked up into the sky. "That means it's already December. A couple days into December actually."

"So what?" Vanessa asked with surprising coldness.

David gave her a nasty look. "Well first, it means Tim missed a chance to celebrate. Secondly, it means it's almost Christmas. Third, we've only got about six months until the Pokemon League meets."

"Guess we'd better get moving then." Dylan slapped me on the shoulder. "Happy belated birthday buddy."

A few days later, I received a phone call. It was my dad. He was wondering if we were going to be heading back home for Christmas. I didn't know so I covered the phone with my hand and asked my friends.

"I won't lie: I wouldn't mind," Dylan said using this opportunity to sit down. "It'd be nice to go home for a bit."

"What about the next gym?" David asked. "It's a lot closer from here."

"We could always fly."

"The gyms have been paying out rather well lately," I added.

"Go home until New Year's and then fly down to New Orleans for the next gym battle?" Dylan suggested. "It'll give us plenty of time to unwind and totally recharge our batteries."

David wasn't convinced. "This is going to be the second major break we've taken. We don't have all that much time left."

"It's going to take us at least a month to walk to Louisiana." I glanced down at the phone to make sure the call was still going. "Technically, this is the shorter route. Sure it's going to cost more money this way but as long as we do some training and don't just sit around, it won't be wasted time."

David was looking more convinced now.

"I think we're only a few day's walk or so from Fort Myers," Dylan said now with his GPS out. "We could be home a week at the latest." He looked to me. "I'm all for this if you are."

I nodded and caught a nod from David and Vanessa as well.

"Ok, we're heading home," I told my dad. "We think we're only a day's walk from Fort Myers. We'll catch a flight from there. I'll call later when we actually have a flight."

"Onward!" Dylan shot to his feet. He pointed in a direction. "That way!"

With a new spring in our step, we hurried after Dylan.

We were on an unlikely path of travel so there wasn't a whole lot in the way of opposing trainers. The only ones we came across were inexperienced ones. After one look at Dylan's gyarados they weren't very eager to battle with us. Dylan and I sparred twice in our trip. They weren't serious battles but he still bested me both times.

As we approached the edge of Fort Myers Dylan got a phone call. It was his dad and he had good news. Dylan and my family's had arranged for four tickets to the Detroit airport to be waiting for us. Someone would be there to pick us up to take us back to Grand Rapids and wouldn't have a problem stopping off in Lansing to drop off David and Vanessa. The only downside was that the flight left in a three hours so we were going to have to hustle.

Before Dylan was even finished with his call, David had found us a bus stop. It took a few minutes to decipher all the maps and routes. We were fairly confident we had the right bus to take but we still asked if it was going to the airport when we got on. We were not going to miss this flight. The bus had in fact been the right choice and we got to the airport with plenty of time. The four tickets were waiting for us and after a quick pass through security we were ready to board.

We didn't have great seats. No first class for us. As the plane's acceleration pressed me back in my seat, I realized that I didn't care we were riding coach. This beat the hell out of walking.

The whole flight was only a couple of hours. A lot had changed in those couple hours. Specifically the temperature. It had been in the seventies when we left Florida. It was twenty-nine degrees on December seventeenth when we set foot back in our home state for the first time in many months. The first thing we did was find a bathroom and change into long pants and dug coats out of our bags. Our light jackets weren't suited for the snow that was falling but they sure beat short sleeves.

Dylan's uncle Barry was the one waiting for us. After quick introductions, we piled into Barry's van. I had never met Barry so I remained mostly quiet as Dylan and his uncle caught up. After an hour Barry asked David and Vanessa where they wanted to be dropped off. They directed him to Vanessa's dad's house.

"Keep in touch," I said to David, offering him my hand. "We'll plan on flying out on January second."

He shook my hand. "Looking forward to it."

After another hour, I was being dropped off at my house.

"Do some training?" Dylan asked as I climbed out.

I shook my head. "Not for a few days. I want to relax for once. I'm probably going to go see Professor Oak tomorrow. Want to come?"

"Definitely."

"Pick you up around noon then."

As I stood in the driveway of my house, it was as I remembered it. My trusty car sat off to the side of the driveway just where I had left it. The yard and roof were covered with a few inches of snow. I shivered as a cold breeze buffeted me with snow. That was more than enough reminiscing for now.

The business day was already over and both my parents were already home. To her credit, my mom was able to hold back tears as she hugged me. I sat at the counter on a stool and told them the story of my travels so far as they made dinner. It took longer than I though and my story continued well into dinner. We talked well into the night until I finally announced I was too tired and needed to go to bed. I found my family's pair of skitty waiting there. I tried to move them off the bed but eventually let them sleep on top of the covers.

It was good to be home.

I slept in way later than I had planned to. I had to rush to shower and dress to get to Dylan's by noon. Driving was a bit of an experience. It had been close to six months since I had last driven and there had not been snow. There was a couple mishaps but we made it all the way out to Professor Oak's campus without incident. We found the main white building and got inside before the cold could seep through our coats.

The inside had been remodeled since we had last been there. There was now a receptionist area. A woman with graying hair was sitting behind a rounded desk pecking away at her computer. She looked up at up as we approached.

"Good afternoon. May I help you?" She seemed pleasant enough.

"Afternoon. Is Professor Oak in?" I asked.

"Do you have an appointment?" She had stopped typing now and was clicking with her mouse.

"Um, no. This was kind of a spur of the moment thing. We just got back into town yesterday. I don't think he knows we're back."

There was a moment of hesitation as the receptionist double-clicked something on her screen. "Ah, here we go. Tim and Dylan. You're earlier than we expected you."

Dylan laughed. "Man you guys are good."

"We take pride in efficiency," the receptionist said with a smile. She stood and added, "If you'll follow me, the professor is in one of the labs."

She lead us down a series of hallways and eventually opened a door for us. Professor Oak was bent over a table taking notes on something. He straightened up as he saw us enter.

"Boys!" he said excitedly. "Good to see you again!"

"You too Professor," I replied, shaking his hand.

"Four badges now!" the professor laughed. "It seems like just yesterday I was giving you a pokemon. Speaking of pokemon, I appreciate the latest batch you've sent me."

"I've got a couple more to add." I produced a pair of poke balls from my pocket. "I caught a quagsire and a skorupi that I'd like to leave here for a while."

Oak's eyes lit up as he took the balls and then handed them off to an assistant that had been lurking in the background. "A skorupi, eh? I'm not actually sure if we have one of those. Or if we do, we definitely don't have many."

"Treat it well!" I called after the departing assistant. "I'm going to want it back at some point."

"So what else is new?" Oak asked. "It's been a few weeks since we've last spoken."

Dylan glanced at me and I knew he was thinking about the dream we'd had. Instead he just said, "Not a whole lot really. No signs of Team Rocket lately."

Oak lowered himself into a chair. "That's good. There was definitely some worry that they might try to track you down. Their organization took quite a hit when you defeated them in Pallet Town. Well, at least as far as anyone can tell. There's a lot about Team Rocket that is still a mystery."

"Any more news on the front of them trying to find the Pokemon Sanctuary?" I asked as I took another chair.

"Nothing that I have heard. No news of anyone finding any new data on the Sanctuary. It still remains a bit of a mystery. There has to be to be some type of entrance out there but no one has come across it yet."

"It can't be that easy," Dylan chimed in. "There can't just be a door with a sign that says 'Pokemon Sanctuary'."

Oak laughed. "No, there's definitely expected to be something more to it. Whether it's some type of key or incantation to open the door or gate or what have you. Or it may simply open on it's own in a matter of time. No one has ever been present for an opening so there is no real way to know."

A few seconds of silence passed as we all digested this.

"Ok then!" Oak shot to his feet faster than I thought he could. "I bet you'd like to see the pokemon you left here! I know they'd like to see you!"

Dylan and my eyes lit up. "Yeah!"

Oak lead us back out into the hallway and at first I thought he was going to take us outside. Instead he took us down a glass tunnel that lead across the campus next to a sidewalk. It was still a little colder in the tunnel but it sure beat trudging through the snow. The tunnel ended at a set of double doors that Oak pulled open. Immediately we were greeted by a wave of hot air. We were inside a giant greenhouse but we might as well have stepped back into Florida. The hot, muggy air was settled over a rolling, grassy hills with a few ponds and swamps interspersed. Two of the bodies of water along the edges went deep underground and connected to two pools in the outdoors so water pokemon could go from either environment. A rocky cave was at the far end and looked like it might lead to a cave on the outside.

"This is where we keep most of our pokemon that prefer warm weather," Oak explained. "Naturally we can't keep them all here. Some are sent to other campuses in warmer climates and some are put in some of our other greenhouses. I believe that all of your pokemon are in here."

I was about to say something when a butterfree swooped down in front of me and began chattering away. It did not appear to be very happy with me. In fact, it was downright angry at me. Once it had said it's peace it floated away.

"Ah yes," Oak said with a grin. "Your butterfree has been rather moody since you transferred it here. I think it's upset that you didn't keep it on your team."

"Haunt! Haunter!"

Turning to my left, I just got a glimpse of an oncoming mass of deep purple before it ran right through me. I shuddered as the cold passed through me.

"Hi Haunter," I said, twitching my shoulders. "Good to see you too."

"Haunt haunt haunt!" the ghost pokemon laughed.

I saw Corphish pop it's head out of the water. Grimer was sludging around on a pile of big rocks. Dylan's zigzagoon was happily wandering around with it's nose to the ground. His oddish waddled up to greet us. It was nice to have the whole gang back together.

"Go ahead and release the rest of your pokemon if you want," Oak said. "You can leave them all hear or take them with you again."

He showed us where all the poke balls were kept. Each one sat in a little divot on a shelf with a label underneath it denoting which pokemon it belonged to and who was the pokemon's trainer. We quickly began letting all the rest of our pokemon out. Soon the greenhouse was a bustle of activity as new and old friends got together. Not all the activity was friendly though. We had forgotten that my bulbasaur and Dylan's former bulbasaur, now his ivysaur, did not get along. We had to separate the two of them. Igglybuff and Steelix formed an surprising friendship. The small pink pokemon screeched with delight as it rode around upon the metal snake's head. We stayed there for the rest of the afternoon and only left in the evening when we needed to go eat dinner. It was a tough choice but Dylan and I agreed to leave all our pokemon at Professor Oak's place until the next day. They seemed to be enjoying being out of their poke balls and interacting with each other. We'd come back for them tomorrow.

The next few days were fantastic. After retrieving my pokemon from Professor Oak's lab, I did exactly what I had wanted to do since I had come home: absolutely nothing. I woke up late and stayed in bed even later. I parked myself on the couch and watched television. Most importantly, I ate a lot of good food. Unfortunately, being as used to being on the move as I was, I got bored. I debated doing some training but it was snowing and most of my pokemon were not snow fans. So I went for a walk.

Despite being December, it wasn't all that cold out. There was a light snow falling and a breeze that occasionally picked up but with the big winter coat I was wearing, I barely felt a thing. I actually had to unzip it a little. With no real predetermined path, I just kind of wandered around aimlessly. The schools were on winter break so I passed a number of yards full of children playing in the snow. It made me miss those days when nothing else mattered. I was passing through a big parking lot along a busy road when a car swerved into the parking lot and stopped in front of me.

"Tim?" the driver called as he got out. "Tim!"

I recognized him immediately. It was my friend Tad from high school. He was still just as short as I remembered him being. We embraced in a friendly hug.

"How are you doing?" he asked. "How's the quest going?"

Not wanting to be stuck out in the snow forever, I gave him the short version. I omitted everything that had to do with Team Rocket which shaved a good few minutes off of my story.

"We actually saw you at that tournament," Tad told me. "Well, I guess it was on TV but we still saw you!"

"Hopefully it was the match I won?"

He looked away. "No, it was the one where you lost to that torterra."

"I've got nothing to be ashamed about for that one," I said with a laugh. "That was a heck of a battle."

"Speaking of battles, how about one?"

That took me by surprise. I didn't know that Tad was a trainer, let alone even had a pokemon but I decided that it couldn't hurt. We spaced ourselves apart. He already had a poke ball in hand. I took a moment and looked up at the sky.

"What are you doing?" Tad asked.

"Taking in the factors," I replied and then went into lecture mode. "We're in a residential area and on pavement. That means I don't want to use any big pokemon that could damage the terrain. That also rules out ground-type pokemon as well. It's snowing out and there's a slight wind that seems to be picking up here and there." The wind gusted a little stronger to emphasize my point. "I can rule out any flying pokemon because the snow and wind might give them trouble. Those factors along with the low temperature would be less than ideal for fire-, grass-, or rock-type pokemon. An ice- or water-type would do well in this situation but that seems like the obvious choice so it'd be best to stay away from that. Which leaves only one choice." I reached down and selected the proper poke ball. "Pikachu, go!"

As Pikachu formed on the field, Tad looked down sadly at the poke ball in his hand. He threw it onto the field with less enthusiasm than he'd had a minute ago. A pidgeotto popped out of the ball.

"Ooo, ouch," I winced. "Still want to give it a go?"

He sighed. "No, I guess not. I didn't even think about the weather when I chose Pidgeotto."

I walked over and clapped him on the shoulder. "I didn't either for a long time. Let me tell you about this Gym Leader named Lacey though…"

After my story, Tad convinced me I should go with him. He was on his way to hang out with some of our friends from high school. I didn't have any other plans so I hopped in his car and off we went. They mobbed me as soon as we arrived. It made me a little uncomfortable to be such the focus of attention but I quickly got over it. Jen, the girl that I liked and liked me back, was still waiting for me. Apparently everyone knew of our feelings for each other and quickly adjusted so that we could sit together. Our hands eventually found each other. I still couldn't technically make a commitment since I was leaving again but it was understood that nothing had changed between us.

It's good to be home.

Christmas came and went. My family was overjoyed to see me. They had actually even still gotten me presents despite the short notice of my arrival. A new pair of walking shoes and a pile of poke balls were great but it paled in comparison to what came next. My parents had upgraded my phone to a new Droid smartphone. It came with full internet access and a built in GPS because as my dad put it, "A spare GPS unit could never be a bad thing." They also suggested I start up a Twitter account so family and friends could track our progress easier instead of waiting for emails. Then my aunt and uncle added a final coupe de grace: a solar-powered battery charger for the phone so I wouldn't ever have to worry about the battery dying. It was more than I could've ever asked for.

The day after Christmas, I got a phone call. It was David.

"Hey man, what's up?" I greeted him.

"Hey." He sounded a bit dejected. "Just wanted to let you know that Vanessa and I broke up."

I held my tongue for a moment, not entirely sure what my next words should be. "How are we feeling about this? I need to know how I should be responding."

This time he was quiet for a moment. "I'm not sure. I think I kind of saw the writing on the wall."

"I'd be lying if I didn't think the end was near last time I saw you."

"Gee, thanks." A bitter sarcasm laced his words.

"So… what does this do for our traveling arrangements?" It was the question that I'd first thought of when he'd dropped his news. "Are you still coming with us? Is she? I mean, that'd be kind of awkward…"

David sighed. "I know I still plan on being at the Detroit airport January second. I don't know what she's doing." He hesitated then said, "I think she may not be coming. I still think the whole almost killing those Team Rocket members has got her all messed up. She really hasn't been the same since. It might be best if she stays home and gets some help or something."

"Yeah, probably," I agreed. "I'll let Dylan know that our party is down a member."

"Thanks. I'll see you in a couple days."

Instead of calling Dylan, I just went and jumped in my car. When I pulled into his driveway Dylan was actually out in his yard doing some training with Croagunk and Dustox. He listened without speaking as I told him about my conversation with David.

"Eh, I figured as much," he said when I was done. "Probably for the best. I never wanted to say it but… I always kind of thought she was the weak link in our group."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Her team was always kind of mediocre. Not very diverse. Or powerful. I'm not saying she's a bad trainer but I think we're better."

I paused. "Well, I didn't really want to say it but yeah, I kind of agree."

There was an awkward silence as we both felt bad about what we had just said about a friend and fellow trainer.

Dylan waved for me to follow him. "Come on. I've got something to show you."

He put his pokemon back in their balls and we went inside his house. In his bedroom he reached behind a small bookshelf to produce a small cloth bag. He loosened the drawstrings as I gave him a weird look. I had no idea what he had. Then he dumped the contents onto his desk.

"Holy shit."

Dylan nodded. "Yeah."

It was the elemental stones that we had found in the Team Rocket headquarters.

"How did you get these?" I asked.

"The police sent them back to me. I think they thought they were real stones or something and they were mine. I didn't get a good look at them really back then. Notice anything weird?"

There were seventeen of them that I counted. At first I didn't notice anything weird besides the size difference. I took a closer look at one and immediately changed my opinion on them. I held it up to Dylan and said, "What the hell is this?"

He nodded. "Exactly. There's others too."

The stone I was holding was a translucent color that an evolutionary stone should be. It was what was in the center that was wrong. This pinkish stone had what looked like a carving of an eye inside. I grabbed another one. A dark red one had a carving of a fist inside it.

"There's one for every element," Dylan said picking up a random one. "Poison, psychic, dark, normal, all of them."

"But they don't work like regular evolutionary stones?" I guessed examining a third stone. This one had a black orb inside it.

Dylan shook his head. "I've got an eevee. The stones that you'd normally find did nothing. None of the others did anything either. There's some kind of energy radiating from them. You can feel it when you put it next to a pokemon of the same type."

I rolled one around in my hand. I felt like it definitely was something special but I had no clue what it was. Dylan swept them all off his desk and back into their bag. I tossed the one I was holding in.

"Hey," I said slowly. "Remember that dream? One of those voices mentioned a stone. You think maybe it's looking for these or something?"

Dylan shrugged. "I didn't hear them say anything about stones. You were the one who heard that. Had any dreams lately?"

"No. My dreams have been back to usual. You?"

"Nope."

I nodded at the bag. "What are you going to do with them? Send them back to the police?"

"Nah, I figure I'll take them with me." He tossed the bag onto his backpack that rested in the corner. "Figure no one will think to look for them with us. If we gave them to Professor Oak and if someone dangerous is after them, who knows what they'd do to him and all the pokemon there? Same reason I'm not leaving them here."

After that, Dylan and I did a little training together. It was the first real training we'd done together in quite a while. When a few hours had passed I headed back home. The next few days went by quickly. I spent a lot of time out at Professor Oak's lab working with my pokemon. Dylan was also there a lot. We felt like we were definitely making progress. Especially me with Butterfree, who was now acknowledging me once again without getting angry. I took it with me when I left for good the morning of New Year's Eve. I also took Haunter with me. I debated on bringing Corphish with me since I was going to be heading the fire-type gym after the psychic-type gym but I decided I could always get it transferred to me later.

To appease my family, I only spent New Year's Eve with my friends. I even managed to get a kiss from Jen at midnight. New Year's Day was spent with my family out at my grandparent's house. I guess I couldn't blame my parents for wanting me out there. I was probably going to be gone for the next four to five months. Pokemon League didn't start until June so we were planning on collecting our final badges by early May at the latest so we would have plenty of time to get our pokemon prepared.

The next day, my dad drove Dylan and me to the airport in Detroit. David was already there and as expected, he was alone. By unspoken agreement, we didn't mention it at all. I said goodbye to my dad and we headed for our gate.

It was significantly warmer outside when we landed in New Orleans. We were now glad that we had suffered through our last moments in the Michigan cold wearing only light coats now. It was like a pleasant spring day outside. It made for a nice stroll through New Orleans where we promptly got lost.

New Orleans was a much bigger city than we had imagined. Damage left over from Hurricane Katrina was still evident in certain areas which diverted us from certain paths we tried to take. I had seen pictures of the city on television and it was pretty incredible how far they'd come in the recovery effort but it was clear that was still some work to be done. That being said, the city was still a bustle of activity. There had clearly been some epic New Year's parties that people were just now recovering from.

"I would love to be down here for either New Year's or Mardi Gras," Dylan commented as we walked down a busy street. "This place looks like it throws a hell of a party."

"Too bad we just missed it," I said.

David laughed. "Tell you what: when I win the Pokemon League, I'll fly us all back down here."

We wandered about the city for a few hours. There was no sign of the Gym anywhere. We couldn't even find some type of directional sign pointing us in the right direction. It seemed peculiar that there was no evidence that an official Pokemon League Gym Leader resided in the city. David bothered some people who were passing by to ask them if they knew anything about a Gym. They were just visiting like us however. Eventually a street vendor that we bought lemonade from clued us in. Despite the Gym officially being listed as being in New Orleans, the actual physical location was outside the city in the bayou.

I groaned. "Not more swamps…"

"Technically, they aren't swamps," Dylan corrected.


	39. Chapter 39

Apparently my geography was not as good as I thought it was. Bayous were not that similar to the Everglades at all. It was a whole different type of humid grossness. As we were trudging down a path, I made a vow to myself that after we were finished with this quest that I was never going in another swamp as long as I lived. I figured it wouldn't be a very hard vow to keep.

When I saw the entrance to the Gym, I refortified my vows. At first I thought it was a cave. Then I realized it was a skull. I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized it couldn't possibly be real. The spikes along the side of the mouth and the ridges atop the skull made me realize that it was just shaped to look like an oversized groudon skull. Knowing that it was fake didn't make walking into it's mouth any less creepy. The back of the throat led into a solid rock cave that slowly expanded. Torches lined the walls to illuminate the area and a large flaming chandelier hung from the ceiling to assist with the lighting. I updated my newly created Twitter account with my disdain for the cave.

Where the cave really began to widen stood a woman. It was hard to guess her age because her hair was wrapped up in a yellow cloth so you couldn't see if it was graying at all. Her dark-skinned face was lined but not enough so that I would have thought she was past her sixties. The flickering light played tricks on my eyes so she might've only been in her forties. She had a black shirt and pants on that were topped by a long reddish-orange cloak.

"Bienvenu!" she called in what I was pretty sure was French. She changed to what I thought was English but it was very heavily accented. "You have come to challenge me?"

We looked at each other. "Yes?"

She laughed and suddenly her accent was gone. "Well if you can't understand me, I'd just as well loss the accent. It's kind of hard to keep it up during battle anyway." She extended her hand as she walked closer. "I'm Marie, the Gym Leader here."

I took her hand. "Wait, so you're not some type of voodoo queen?"

"Not so fast. Just because I don't have a Cajun accent doesn't mean I can't be a voodoo queen." After shaking Dylan and David's hands she motioned for us to follow her further into the cave. Off to one side was a small stone growth that she kneeled down at like a table. "Things have come a long ways. The lines between mysticisms have been blurred. Those that practiced Voodoo long ago would not recognize much of what we do today. In fact, they might even scorn it."

The three of us crouched down on the other side of the table. The rock was clean and smooth. A vein of something that sparkled ever so slightly ran through the center. If cut down the vein, the rock table would be cleaved into two even halves. I wondered if that was by design.

"Pokemon continue to influence what we do as well," Marie continued. She had produced a deck of cards from somewhere, the cards much bigger and thicker than regular playing cards. "Using the abilities that pokemon possess, we have created a whole new craft. They can help us discover our own powers or help us channel or focus them properly. In turn, we have dedicated more of our craft to honoring them as well. Take these cards for instance." She stopped shuffling and held them up. "A pokemon-themed tarot card deck. Imbued with psychic energy of those trainers and their pokemon that created it. It can be used to predict one's future. It doesn't work all that well for normal people but it's great for trainers. It differs enough from a normal tarot deck that we should probably call it something else but no one has come up with a name that sticks yet."

"Is that what's going on here?" David asked. "Are you going to read our futures?"

"It's a bit of a tradition. I do it for all my challengers."

Once Marie had determined she had properly shuffled the cards she dealt out two lines of five. One on her side of the sparkly vein and one on our side. The back of the cards was ordained with an intricate weave pattern that was the color of fresh wood. I liked to think it was my imagination but I could almost feel the power radiate from them as I inched my hand closer.

Marie pointed at the cards. "Two lines. One provides a window to your inner spirit that has been with you since birth. The other your future. Kept apart by the glittering present. Select the inner spirit."

Dylan drew his card first. He flipped over the card on the far right to reveal a stunning rendition of a slowking. It stood atop a rocky outcropping with the early morning streaming around the big crown-like shell that was on it's head. Thoughtful eyes gazed out at us.

"The Seven of Slowking," Marie interpreted. "Your inner spirit is one of wisdom. You take your time to study what is set before you and know all that you need to for battle."

I had to admit that did sound a bit like Dylan. It was going to take more than that for me to believe in the mystic power of card reading though.

David drew his card next, selecting the second in from the left. Black, blue and yellow looked back at us. A very lifelike luxray pawed at something out of the picture. Predatory malice was evident in it's eyes.

"Two of Luxray. While you can be both viscous and loyal, your inner spirit is one stubbornness. You are set in your ways and do not like to be told otherwise."

"I'm not sure I like that at all…" David grumbled, setting the card aside.

I took the card in the very center. An eevee sat calmly in a field, seemingly not a care in the world. I tilted the card so Dylan could see it and it changed. It was like a hologram or something. When I tilted it left, the eevee became an espeon and to the other side it became an umbreon. Tilting it up made it into a leafeon and down made it into a glaceon.

"What does that mean?"

Marie smiled. "The Ten of Eevee. Your inner spirit is ever changing. You go with the flow of things and adapt to whatever best suits your need. As predictable as you are, you are equally unpredictable."

Marie adjusted her hair band and then collected the cards from us. She swept the remaining two on our side off the board. When she did she must have created some kind of air current. The second card in from my right shifted back towards Marie. She paused like she was considering something. Reaching out with a long finger she tapped the card gently and then slid it out of the line to a new spot directly in front of her.

"Is that card no good?" I asked.

She ignored my question. "Now each of you draw from this line."

This time I drew first. A magnificent charizard adorned the down side of the card. It was streaking through the air, fire leaking from it's mouth. Oddly enough it was carrying a long saber.

"The Fire of War," was all Marie said before looking to Dylan.

Dylan's card had a mighty feraligatr. It sprayed water from it's gaping jaws at some unknown target. Like my card, his pokemon was holding something. The feraligatr clutched a key in it's left claws.

"The Gatekeeper."

A trend seemed to be emerging and I guessed that David's card was going to have a blastoise holding something. I ended up being close. It was a wartortle holding a scythe across it's shelled chest as it perched atop a pointed rock that had emerged from a raging river.

"The River of Death."

Marie hesitated and then slide the card she had removed back into the center. When it was on equal sides of the glittering line, she flipped it. Two legendary pokemon locked in battle was been painted on this card. Their white bodies clashed against a flowing dark landscape. I recognized the pokemon from illustrations I had seen.

"Palkia and Dialga," David got out before I could.

We all looked up at Marie for some type of explanation. Her face had gone white. Her big brown eyes were larger than I thought possible. I wasn't entirely sure if she was even breathing. "I…I," she finally got out.

"What's wrong?" Dylan asked.

Marie opened and closed her mouth a few times before managing to say, "I… I didn't think I even had this card! I've never seen it before. It's the Battle of Time and Space. It's a very powerful card and…"

"And?" I prompted.

"And given the three cards you have chosen, it is not to be taken lightly. Upcoming times will bring with them much difficulty. This is a potent combination I have not seen, nay, ever even heard about! I must consult my texts to find it's true meaning…"

David reached after her as she started heading deeper into the cave. "Hey! Hey, wait! We still have to battle!"

Marie whirled around, her cloak swirling around her body. "Do you not understand the importance of what has transpired?"

"Do you not understand the importance of us winning a badge here?" David countered.

As they argued what was more universally important, something else caught my attention. I slowly reached out across the stone table. When Marie wasn't looking or pointing in my direction, I pressed two fingers down on the remaining tarot card and pulled it towards me. I grabbed it with my thumb and forefinger to snap it around. On the other side of the card were two pokemon, one black and one a mix of blue and yellow. At first the two pokemon side by side meant nothing to me. It was just a pair of pokemon that looked like they might be some type of polar opposites.

Then I saw the eye.

Below the plume-like top of the head of the black pokemon was a single ice blue eye. I knew it instantly. It was the eye of the dark specter I had seen in my dream of the forest. I put the card right in front of my face just to be sure. There was no mistake: it was the same eye.

"Hey." I nudged Dylan and showed him the card. He just shrugged after looking at it for a moment.

"So what?"

I pointed at the dark pokemon. "I've seen that one. I'd recognize that eye anywhere. It was in the dream about the forest. It was the one I could hear."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

Marie was instantly invading my personal space. Her nose was less than three inches from my face. Her lunch had been heavy on garlic. The gym leader was breathing heavily. Just when I had thought her eyes couldn't get any wider, they were practically bugging out of her head.

She enunciated each word very heavily. "What did you say?"

I took a moment to get a little more space for my personal bubble. Then I told her what I had told Dylan about seeing the eye before. Marie snatched the card from me. She stared at it intently before slowly lowering it back to the table.

"This is even more dire than I realized," she said softly. "The Lunar Duo… they do not appear often and when they do…" She trailed off and started retreating into the cave again.

"Hey wait, come back!" I said, rising to my feet. "You can't just leave now! We came for a battle and we're going to get one!"

My friends nodded their agreement.

Marie sighed. "You have no idea what forces you tempt with this foolishness!"

"You said yourself that you don't know what the cards mean," David shot back. "Maybe you're the one tempting things by not battling us! You might be causing irreparable harm to the space-time continuum." David crossed his arms over his chest triumphantly. "Yeah, think about it."

From the look Marie gave him, I wouldn't have been surprised if she slapped him. "You…" She was practically trembling with rage. The gym leader reached into her robe with a viciousness. She pulled her hand out and hurled three poke balls at the battlefield. They rolled to a perfect stop right on the edge of her own trainer's box, probably with a little psychic nudging.

"My pokemon will battle you," she said coldly, already retreating further into the cave. "I am connected to them psychically so it will be as if you are battling me."

"So we each battle one?" I asked.

Marie's voice was growing faint already. "Your destinies are joined, so shall you be joined in battle. You will battle as one trainer with each of you commanding one pokemon. You will triumph or fail as one."

With that, she disappeared into the darkness.

"Ok, so it's like that one time we battle those guys outside Chicago," Dylan said. "Swap trainers as we swap pokemon. We can handle that no problem."

"So who are we brining to this party?" David asked. "Do we have any pokemon that are strong against psychics?"

"I have Butterfree," I offered. "It's bug-typing makes it resistant."

"What we really need is a dark-type," Dylan said. "I've got a bug-type in Dustox but it's also got a poison-type that cancels out the resistance."

I nodded. "Same with Heracross and it's fighting-type."

"I've got Shinigami," David suggested. It took me a moment to remember he was talking about his scyther. "It's a bug-type and no offense, it probably packs more of a punch than your butterfree."

"What about Steelix?" Dylan asked. "It's resistant to psychic right?"

"Yup. No attacks that would be super effective though."

David scratched at his beard. "Shinigami knows fury cutter and other than that, I just have a few pokemon that know bite as far as super-effectiveness."

I only had Butterfree and Haunter with super-effective attacks but Haunter was at a disadvantage because of it's poison typing. Dylan was in the same boat as David. We really couldn't form a team that would be able to dish out heavy damage to a group of psychic pokemon.

"Ok, I guess I'll go with Steelix if David's going with Shina-whatever," I said. "Steelix can be our tank and absorb heavier hits if your pokemon need to rest."

Dylan was quiet for just a moment longer. "I'm think I'm going to go with Quilava." When David and I gave him strange looks he explained, "I've got a hunch. I'm thinking she's not going to throw just straight up psychic-types at us. Remember battling Lacey? All her grass pokemon had a second type. I'd just like to cover all our bases."

I couldn't argue with his logic as I remember my war with Lacey. We each got our chosen pokemon in hand and moved to the challenger's area. There was some confusion on how to proceed from there. It was us facing three closed poke balls with no trainer attached to them.

"Uh, we're ready?" David called out.

The poke ball in the center exploded open. It revealed a yellow and brown humanoid pokemon. A long mustache drooped from it's angular face. Each three-fingered hand held a spoon.

"Oh man, an alakazam," Dylan moaned. "This won't be easy. David, you want to start things off?"

David gladly took the lead. Alakazam's spoons glowed with a blue aura and when it swung them, they sent rings of the same color at Shinigami. They scyther had already moved. Shinigami slashed it's two big glowing scythes down, leaving an X impression in the air. It slammed the glowing x-scissor into the psychic pokmeon and then retreated.

As the two pokemon traded psycho cuts for x-scissors, I was impressed at how strong David's pokemon had become. He had only caught the bug pokemon less than a month ago but so far it was at least holding it's own against a seasoned Gym pokemon. It said a lot about David as a trainer to have a pokemon performing at such a high level already.

Alakazam's eyes glowed a light blue. Suddenly Shinigami was plucked from the air and slammed into the side of the cave. A blue aura became visible around Shinigami as the alakazam exerted it's psychic power. Shinigami tried to rise but it looked as if it were lifting the world on it's shoulders.

"Shinigami, use vacuum wave!"

The scyther mustered the strength to lift a scythe. It whirled it around quickly and a small tornado of energy shot out. The attack slammed into the chest of Alakazam. The fighting-type attack wasn't overly effective but it was enough of a distraction for Shinigami to throw off it's psychic shackles.

"Now use wing attack!"

Shinigami drove a glowing wing into Alakazam's chest and dragged it along the cave floor. Alakazam raised up a hand as it's lower half churned up rock. A glowing orb formed in it's palm.

"Watch out!" I yelled.

The alakazam drove the focus blast down on Shinigami's head. It's effectiveness was diminished but it sent the bug pokemon into a crashing spiral. The two pokemon took a moment to gather their wits before rising to their feet.

Unexpectedly, the poke ball that had released Alakazam floated off the ground and used it's laser to retrieve the pokemon from the field.

"That was unexpected," Dylan muttered.

The poke ball on the left opened and released it's contents. The blue-green pokemon kind of reminded me of a church bell. A church bell with arms coming off the top and big glowing red eyes.

David looked back at us. "What is that?"

I pulled out my pokedex. As I was scanning it, the pokemon tilted backwards. The base of it filled with a sparkly energy. The energy exploded upwards in a barrage of small streaks. The streaks arced over and descended back to the ground.

"Bronzong!" I shouted as the streaks all slammed into the ground, missing Shinagami completely. "Steel-type!"

"I'm in!" Dylan announced.

David didn't immediately recall his pokemon. "Something's not right."

I cocked an eyebrow. "How so?"

"That attack didn't even try to hit Shinagami."

"Maybe it had low accuracy," David sighed. "Get your pokemon off the field. You can't even hurt it."

David relented. When Quilava appeared on the field, it wasn't alone. Anywhere the streaks had touch sprang out sharp boulders. They all trembled as they lifted off the ground. For a heartbeat, I hoped that was all they would do. Then they all came smashing down on Quilava. The fire pokemon came out of the wreckage alive but it had suffered some fair damage.

"Oh shit!" I slapped my forehead. "That was stealth rock!"

David snapped his fingers. "That's it! It's going to do that to us every time we switch pokemon. Not good…"

It was then that things got even worse. It's mission to employ stealth rocks completed, Bronzong returned to it's poke ball. I expected Alakazam to return in order to draw out Shinigami who would be weak to the hidden stones but we were treated to something completely different. An orange circular rock-type pokemon with long yellow spires encircling it's outer rim. Two yellow-lidded eyes were in the center of the body.

"Quilava, return!"

It didn't draw Shinigami out but it still served it's purpose. Just to get Quilava back onto the field again would damage the pokemon. Switching pokemon had just become a risky proposition.

Unless you had a pokemon that was resistant to rock. Like a steelix.

"Steelix, go!" I stepped forward in the box as I threw my poke ball.

The stealth rocks slammed into my pokemon once it formed but crumbled and fell away. Steelix wasn't entirely unharmed but it was in a much better place than Dylan's quilava.

"Watch out here," Dylan advised as he read his pokedex. "Solrock has the ability Levitate. It won't be affected by ground-type moves."

Solrock started things off by gathering in light. The cave became noticeably darker as the rock-type pokemon drew in what light was available.

"It's using solar beam! Steelix, use ice fang!"

Steelix roared and the two jagged bolts of icy blue lightning leapt from it's mouth. Solrock tried to fire it's solar beam but it must not have been ready or something. Ice fang easily overpowered it. Solrock was slammed into the far cave wall and a small tremor rippled through the cave.

"Iron tail!"

A glowing circle of rainbow energy flew out of Solrock's eyes. Steelix paid it no heed. The glowing tail sliced right through it before crushing the psychic pokemon further into the wall.

"You've got it on the ropes!" Dylan shouted. "Don't let it recover!"

I had no intention of that. "Rock tomb!"

Steelix slammed it's tail and a spire of rock jutted out from the cave wall. Solrock rode it out and was flung into the air. Steelix slithered around and swatted it out of the air with another iron tail. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw it's poke ball begin to rise.

"Not a chance!" I yelled at the poke ball. "Another iron tail!"

It shouldn't have been that easy, yet it was.

Solrock was buried into the stone floor, almost five feet deep. It made no effort to get out of the hole my pokemon had put it in. I wasn't sure if it was because there wasn't a trainer calling the battle of if Steelix really had that much of an advantage but we had just bested a Gym Leader's pokemon with minimal effort.

Eventually Solrock's ball managed to float close enough to the hole to remove the fainted pokemon from it. Alakazam replaced it on the field. A golden aura surrounded it for a few moments and we realized it had just healed itself.

"Let me back in," David insisted.

I shook my head. "No way. Shinigami might not even survive the stealth rock strike. Let me handle this."

David relented but his face made it clear that if I began to struggle, he would step in.

Alakazam hurled a focus blast at Steelix and quickly followed up with a barrage of psycho cut. I directed Steelix underground. Both attacks missed.

There was something just not right about battling a trained pokemon without it's trainer. When pokemon were still wild, they were able to battle for themselves because that's what they had to do. Once captured and trained, they seemed to lose some of their creativity and ingenuity. I knew an alakazam was a smart pokemon but this one had a very vanilla battle strategy.

"Now!" I yelled.

Steelix exploded out of the cave floor. Alakazam was hurled to the side. It rebounded quickly.

"Iron tail!"

Alakazam held up it's clawed hands like it was going to catch the falling tail. To my surprise, it did. Well, with psychic powers it did. Light blue energy pulsed in the psychic pokemon's eyes as it kept Steelix's tail aloft.

Steelix growled as it exerted more effort. The tail began to lower again. Alakazam grunted in reply. The tail's decent halted.

"Ready?" David asked. He had his scyther in hand.

"Be quick," I said, raising my poke ball. "You'll only get one shot. Return Steelix!"

Rocks were smashing against Shinigami the second it became fully formed. Despite being exceptionally weak to rock-type attacks, the scyther was still functional and buzzing towards Alakazam.

Stealth rock had slowed it down just enough.

It's scythes crossed for an x-scissor, Shinagami froze in midair. Not more than four feet separated the two pokemon, one hovering and one standing. Alakazam jerked it's head to the left. The scyther soared in the same direction. It rebounded hard off the cave wall. Alakazam lifted it's snout and Shinigami floated off the ground. With a dramatic whirl, Alakazam sliced it's spoons through the air and sent a cloud of psycho cuts at Shinigami. Released from the psychic hold, the bug pokemon crashed to the ground.

"Rise Shinigami," David commanded.

The scyther stirred but didn't move.

David raised a hand to emphasize his order. "Rise."

Again, nothing.

"I have trained you and with you. I have looked into your eyes and seen your power. You are not defeated." David's voice got louder, more dramatic. "Rise, Shinigami! You are named for the Japanese death spirits. No mere mortal can conquer death unless Death allows it! You have not allowed it! You are charged with guiding this alakazam into the afterlife, not the other way around! Rise! Rise! RISE!"

Shinigami's eyes snapped open. One big scythe dug into the ground and was used to lever the battered body up.

Dylan and I both took a step back. You could say what you wanted about David's methods and training but there was no knocking his skill as a trainer. The respect his pokemon had for him was clear. The respect he held for his pokemon was not to be questioned. I'm not sure how many other trainers could've gotten their pokemon to respond when it was that far gone.

Even Alakazam seemed stunned that Shinigami was on it's feet, albeit breathing heavily.

"Now!" David pointed at Alakazam. "X-scissor!"

This x-scissor was much bigger than previous ones. Alakazam threw up a flash of psycho cuts to defend itself but they were easily overpowered. Shinigami slammed into the psychic pokemon and drove it backwards. The bug-type attack detonated to separate the two pokemon.

"Slash!"

Shinigami's scythes grew to massive proportions. A golden glow began to slide over Alakazam. The scyther was faster than the alakazam though, lifting it off the ground with one massive upwards slash and then slamming it back down with a second.

"I don't think it had time to recover!" Dylan shouted. "Finish it!"

"Take it to the afterlife!" David roared. "X-scissor!"

I could see the light blue aura return to Alakazam's eyes. Then it was blocked out by Shinigami's massive attack. I saw the outline of light blue crawl across Shinigami and then I lost sight of both pokemon when x-scissor exploded. When the smoke cleared both pokemon still stood. I waved a hand in front of my face to make sure I wasn't seeing things. At least one of them should've been knocked out.

"Kazam," whispered the psychic pokemon. Then it face planted.

"Well done Shinigami!" David cried as he recalled his pokemon. "Truly death is unconquerable!"

I rolled my eyes at his theatrics as Alakazam was replaced with Bronzong. "Now what?" I asked, looking to Dylan. "Quilava can take another hit right?"

Dylan nodded, looking confident. "That was the only hit it took. Quilava can take a lot more punishment than that."

Pointed rocks rained down on the fire pokemon but just as Dylan said, Quilava was still in fighting condition attack ceased. Bronzong made the first move with a light blue energy flashing over it's eyes. We all tensed as nothing happened.

"That was weird…," I said.

Dylan wasn't concerned. "Quilava, flamethrower!"

The flames on the back and head of his pokemon flared up as it spat the river of fire at Bronzong. At first the fire washed over the steel-typed pokemon. Then a weird silvery glow appeared at the far end of the flamethrower. Slowly it inched backwards to reveal Bronzong pushing it back with a flash cannon that it was firing from it's mouth. The two attacks detonated each other in a rather beautiful silver and red explosion.

"Lava plume!"

Quilava screamed it's name as a series of explosions went off at it's feet. Fire and black smog swept across the field. Bronzong tried to squirm out of the way but it moved far too slowly. As it thrashed in pain, Quilava tagged the steel pokemon with another flamethrower. The battle looked to be nearing it's conclusion rapidly.

Suddenly David grabbed my arm. "Switch!" When I looked at him funny, he added, "Switch to Steelix now!"

Dylan didn't hesitate to get Quilava off the field. As Steelix rose up to it's full towering height, I felt a breeze. Goosebumps pebbled my flesh as the wind washed over me. Ferocious energy rode along with the wind. From seemingly nowhere, an orb of shimmering rainbow energy slammed into Steelix and exploded just after stealth rock had finished doing it's thing. Steelix roared in pain as stumbled aside.

"Dammit!" Dylan punched himself in the forehead. "That was future sight! Why didn't I see that coming!"

I held up my hands. "Wait a minute. Did we just purposely send my pokemon in to take an attack for Dylan's pokemon?"

David shrugged. "In our defense, Steelix is strong against psychic attacks. Hey, incoming!"

I whirled around to see that a fairly charred Bronzong had fired a flash cannon.

"Ice fang!" I called out.

At first the two attacks were equals. Bronzong gave a little extra effort and the flash cannon completely overwhelmed ice fang. The shimmering silver beam exploded against my pokemon.

"Iron tail!"

Steelix swirled and swatted the smaller pokemon away as I turned to Dylan and asked, "Do you want back in now?"

He waved me off. "Just finish it. Quilava did a lot of damage and took some too. Probably best not to risk the stealth rock again. Steelix should be able to clean things up for us now."

"Agreed." David nodded at me. "Take care of it."

I gave them a mocking bow. "As you command." I turned back to the battle. "Steelix! Iron tail!"

Just like that, it was over. Bronzong was buried in the wall and we stood victorious. We had decimated three Gym Leader-level pokemon without really much trouble. Despite this, it was probably one of the least satisfying battles I'd ever had.

"That was bullshit," David said after Marie still hadn't emerged from the back after a few minutes. "What was even the point of that?"

"I don't even feel good about myself," Dylan said, voicing the same feelings I had. "I think I might've actually felt better about myself after Isamu kicked the shit out of me at the Poison Gym."

I snorted. "I wouldn't go that far."

Dylan waggled his head from side to side as he reconsidered. "Yeah, maybe not. But still: horribly underwhelming. Aren't Gym battles supposed to take us to our limits and teach us things about ourselves and all that?"

"Did it not?" The voice came from the shadows.

Marie stepped into the light. Her arms were folded across her breast. She did not look happy.

"No. No it didn't," David said flatly and moved to block her way. "That was borderline a waste of my time. We stomped all three of your pokemon without losing any of ours. We didn't learn about teamwork because we've done this before."

"Did you not learn about your pokemon?" Marie countered. "Did you not learn that it was willing to reach down to the depths of it's soul to continue on in battle for you?"

She had David and he knew it. He stepped aside.

Marie lead us back over to her stone table where she produced the things she would need to confirm our victory over her: laptop that somehow had an internet connection, card scanner, and of course, badges. It was probably the simplest of the badges we had so far, just two concentric circles. After the digital confirmation, she began leading us towards the mouth of the cave.

"That's it?" I finally asked. "You didn't even participate in battle because you had to do some kind of divine research and you aren't even going to tell us?"

A dark look fell over Marie's face. "I was unable to discern what lies ahead for you," she said sharply. "Many things shield your futures from view. I can only offer this morsel of information: the Shadow King."

"Shadow King?" I repeated.

She nodded slowly. "I know not who or what it is, but I gathered a sense of importance about it."

"Oh, I know the Shadow King," David said casually.

Marie froze. "What?"

David hadn't realized Marie had stopped walking and had to come back a few steps. "Yeah, I saw a sign on our way into town. 'Battle the Shadow King for his title' or something like that. Thought it said it was north of the city or something like that."

"Are you…" Marie let out an exasperated sigh. "I highly doubt that a trainer using a pokemon as a sideshow attraction is what the fates were talking about. I know of what you speak. It's a man with a powerful ghost-type pokemon who allows trainers to challenge his title of Shadow King with other ghost pokemon. They reside in an abandoned carnival."

"Creepy," Dylan observed. "Should we check it out? You know, just in case."

Marie looked like she really wanted to roll her eyes at us. "If you must."

It was the last thing she said to us. Once she had seen us back into the sunlight, she turned on her heels and marched back into her cave. Somehow, I had the feeling she was glad to be rid of us. Despite being cosmically important, we were probably really annoying.

The march back into civilization used up our remaining sunlight. We might've made it back before then but Dylan had insisted he saw a nuzleaf and made us attempt to track it. We never came upon the pokemon despite a good hour of searching. Not wanting to use money for a hotel, we found available lodging at the pokemon center near the edge of town.

As we were waiting for our pokemon to be healed, I found Dylan staring intently at a machine next to the transfer machine. It had a large counter with divots that poke balls would sit nicely in. Two large tube-like arms hung down from the main body of the machine over the divots. I recognized it as the pokemon trading machine.

"You really that interested in trading?" I asked.

Dylan jumped. He heard me arrive. "No, well, not in the sense of getting rid of any of my pokemon."

"That's kind of the point of trading."

"No, here." He pulled one of his poke balls from his belt. "Grab a poke ball and just feel it. It just kind of feels right, doesn't it?"

I had to agree.

"Now switch me." I did. "Feels kind of wrong, doesn't it?" he asked.

"Yeah, it kind of does," I admitted and we exchanged our pokemon back.

"Now put it in the machine," he said. "Don't worry, we'll trade right back."

We both placed our poke balls in the divots. Dylan punched the green button on his side and I did the same on mine. Bolts of electricity sprang to life out of the arms above the balls. Lightning crackled around the poke balls, lifting them into the air. There was a big flash and the balls dropped back down. We got a trade complete message.

"It feels mostly right, but a little odd," Dylan observed when we picked up the pokemon.

"It's like it's mine but not quite," I added. "I wonder if that feeling would go away eventually."

"Here." Dylan tossed me his poke ball and I did the same. I rolled the ball around in my hands. Despite it technically being my pokemon, something about it just didn't feel quite right. There was that little twinge of familiarity, like remembering something you'd experienced long, long ago but it wasn't right. We swapped them back physically and then through the trading machine. Now they both felt just as they had.

"That's fascinating." I tossed the poke ball into the air. It felt perfectly natural in my hand again. "I can't even begin to imagine what causes that phenomenon."

"Just even beginning to think about it make my head hurt," Dylan laughed. "Come on, let's get some rest. We've got a king to see tomorrow."

"A Shadow King," I corrected with a grin.

_-Intermission-_

_The doorbell chimed._

_Dylan's dad put down his newspaper. It was close to nine at night. Who could possibly be ringing the doorbell now? Dylan was back on his travels again. On the couch were Dylan's mom and sister. Both of them appeared surprised at the noise as well. With a grunt, Dylan's dad pulled himself out of his easy chair and wobbled to the door on stiff legs._

_There was a tall man who the only way to describe was non-descript. He had short, cropped brown hair and unremarkable brown eyes. A white collared shirt and tie were covered by a trench coat. Absolutely nothing about him was truly memorable. Except for the badge he held up in the window._

"_Can I help you?" Dylan's dad asked as he cracked the door open._

"_FBI, sir," the man said as he put the badge away. "Sorry to bother you this late at night. I was hoping to speak with your son Dylan regarding the incident he was involved with."_

_A weight lifted off Dylan's dad's chest. He had worried this man was coming to deliver bad news. "I'm sorry but he's back on the road. Do you want to leave a message for him? He was out of cell phone range last I knew but we can always relay it to him next time we talk to him."_

_The man considered this then shook his head. "No, thank you. It's actually about something that he accidentally had sent to him from the crime scene. A small black cloth bag containing a number of stones. Do you know it?"_

"_I do. He was surprised when he got it. I remember him packing it up when he left because he considering leaving it here."_

_The man's eyes narrowed. "So he has it with him."_

_Dylan's dad nodded._

_The man smiled and said, "That's fine. I can just contact the police involved with the case and get his cell phone number. I'm sorry to bother you at this hour."_

_With a polite nod, he stepped back off the doorstep and walked down the driveway. At the end of the driveway he made a right and climbed into a small rental car that was hidden from Dylan's house by a tree. The man locked the doors after he got inside. He removed a prepaid cell phone from his coat pocket and dialed the only number in it's memory._

_He waited for someone to pick up on the other end and then said, "It's me. They aren't here. Should I take the family?"_

_The man listened to the response._

"_Do we have a lead on them? We need those stones."_

_Another response._

"_Don't get pissy with me. It's not my fault we lost them in Florida. We didn't have enough time to regroup. We're lucky we were able to get names."_

_A sharp reply._

"_I know the time is getting close. What about the creatures? Can't they-"_

_The man was cut off by an angry snarl._

"_Fine but the scientists told me they were ready. How else can we track them?"_

_The person on the other end laughed and told the man something._

"_You have people? How is that going to help? They could be anywhere!"_

_Another response._

_The man rubbed his chin. "That's true. They do have to go to the other Gyms. You really think you can draw them in?"_

_The next response made the man's blood go cold._

"_Alright then," he said. "I'll head there immediately. Storms are already brewing. There isn't much time." He paused as the person on the other side said something. He smiled. "You always loved the old theatrics. Eh hem… Surrender now or prepare to fight!"_

_-End Intermission-_


	40. Chapter 40

_I found myself in the forest again. This time, it wasn't quite right though. There was still the unfamiliar flora surrounding me but interwoven amongst them were plants that I recognized. A simple cherry tree stood out from the variety of trees that seemed almost alien to me. Dandelions were on either side of my hands as I pushed myself up off the ground. I wondered what this could mean._

_From behind me I could hear voices. There was the low raspy one and the high melodious one from before. I still couldn't quite understand the melodious one and this time I was having trouble picking up what the raspy one was saying. Then I heard the third voice. This third voice was hit my ears as just a buzz._

_I turned around to see three outlines. There was the shadowy form from before floating next to the strange, glowing triangular form. To their left was the source of the new voice. This form had a little more definition than the others. I could tell that it had four legs and what looked like fins or something that jutted out of it's body right at it's hips. It had a longer neck and two crooked horns. I wasn't sure why but I was fairly certain that it didn't like me._

"_You asked…" the raspy voice said, cutting in and out. "A trainer… pure of… human. … judge him…" It was all just gibberish after that to me._

_The snort from the newer form came through just clear. It turned it's head away from me. I appeared to be failing whatever judgment I was getting so far._

"_He sees," the raspy voice continued. "He sees again. The stone… The beasts… mark him… the others. They are… searching for."_

_The four-legged form still didn't look at me._

"_Hey!" I yelled. It didn't respond, so I yelled again. "Why do you hate me? You haven't even met me!"_

_The creature's head whipped back at me. It's glare was frightening._

I bolted up in my bunk, just barely missing cracking my head on the bunk above me. Sweat dripped down my face and soaked my pillow. I wiped it away as I swung my legs over the edge of my bunk. I was still in the pokemon center in New Orleans. Dylan and David in the bunks next to me were also just now sitting up in their beds. They looked as sweat covered as I did. The few other trainers in the lodging area didn't stir.

"You guys see the forest again?" I asked in a horse whisper.

Dylan struggled to speak, cleared his throat and then said, "Yeah, but it was different somehow. More like Earth."

"And there was another form this time," David added.

"I saw it," I said and laid back down. "Four legs, weird fins, long neck and crooked horns?"

"No," they both answered and looked at each other. I bolted back up. Dylan described his as thin with flat horns and something growing out of it's neck. David's was short and stout and had downward curved horns. They all seemed to almost have the same original design that was contorted somehow.

"Did you get the feeling that they didn't like you?" Dylan asked. "The new things, I mean. The shadow and light things seemed to like us."

"That, I definitely felt," David agreed and I nodded as well. "I almost felt flat out hate."

I looked out the small rectangular window near the top of the wall. The sun was just starting to peak through. "So now what do we do?"

David's response was a yawn. Dylan provided a little more action. He pulled the zipper down on his backpack and plunged his hand into it up to the elbow. After rooting around in the bag for a moment he removed the cloth bag that held the elemental stones. Dylan poured a few of them into his hands to squint at through sleepy eyes. He put his glasses on eventually. Dumping those back into the bag, he repeated the process until he found he one he wanted. I saw a glint of light blue streaking across the room as he tossed it to David.

"The hell?" David exclaimed, ignorant of the other sleepers. "Is this one of those elemental stones you found in Pallet Town?"

Dylan explained how they had been sent back to him because the police force hadn't realized they weren't normal stones. Then he added, "I was pretty sure I heard those images in our dreams mention stones again. If that's really what they're after, we'd all better have at least one." He paused and looked at me. "You still have that fire one right?"

I was certain I did but I emptied half my bag in an attempt to find it. Given that it was only an inch or so thick, it had plenty of places to hide. I found it tucked between a pair of socks. I held it up triumphantly for Dylan to see.

"We should probably find a better way to carry them around than just in our pockets," Dylan said as he twirled a green stone between his fingers. At first I thought it was a leaf stone but then I caught a glimpse of yellow and knew it to be a thunder stone. "There's a ton of shops around here. We can probably find someone who can make some type of holder for us."

David tossed his stone from one hand to the other. "You sure you don't want this one? I could always take the fighting one."

Dylan waved him off. "Keep it. Your water pokemon is probably stronger than mine anyway. I was thinking of carrying the thunder stone for a while. I did a lot of work with Electabuzz over the holidays. We bonded."

I snorted and dug out my towel and headed for the showers.

Hot water sprayed off me, running down grimy walls before circling down a struggling drain. I slicked my hair back before leaning my head against the wall and immediately regretting it. Something about the dream I'd just had still nagged at me. I couldn't quite put my finger on it though. There had been something said about being marked. Everything was just a bit fuzzy though. The outlines of the three forms were about the only thing I was sure of. None of us had gotten enough clear dialogue to really be sure of anything if we were being honest.

My head came up. "The beasts." I got a mouthful of metallic-tasting water for my troubles.

I was no closer to figuring things out and now I had a bad taste in my mouth too.

Dylan led us around the city. David and I weren't really sure what he was looking for but our friend seemed to have a good idea. Trinket shops were his first order of business. We visited probably a half dozen before Dylan altered his criteria and we added pawn shops and flea markets to our search.

"If you told us what you were looking for, we might be able to help us do something besides follow you around," David said for not the first time.

Dylan merely waved him off.

We were crossing a rather busy street when Dylan froze mid-stride in the center turn lane. He spun around and split David and me as he headed back in the reverse direction. We waved to the car that had to stop to let us back across the street. The driver waved back a single digit. Safely on the sidewalk, Dylan paused as he considered something. Veering to the right, he took us back down a street that we had previously walked down but not stopped anywhere. He took us about halfway down the block before stopping at an unassuming shop. At first, I wasn't even sure what it sold. Then I cupped my hand against the dirty window and peered inside. Jewelry hung from various displays. There were earrings, watches and then I saw what had caught Dylan's eye: a line of pendants. One of them was a milky diamond shaped stone in a wire harness that looked custom-made.

"Ah, good choice," I said.

"I saw this shop a while ago," David grumbled. "Maybe someone should've said what they were looking for…"

Dylan ignored him and pushed through the door. A bell chimed to announce our arrival. A small, squirrelly man stood behind a glass display counter. He looked surprised to have customers. Or hopefully, just customers this early. Dylan approached the man while David and I browsed the ware. There was definitely more than one stone, crystal, coin, or whatever in what appeared to be a harness that had to have been specifically made for it. Dylan showed the man a stone and asked if a harness of some type that hung from a necklace could be fitted for it. The man took the stone from Dylan and turned it over in his stubby fingers.

He said it could be done.

Dylan asked if one could be made so stones could be easily switched but not fall out just during walking or other normal activities.

This time the shopkeeper took a few moments. His lips moved just barely as he talked something out with himself. The lips stopped talking and formed a smile. It would be a little more challenging but it could be done. His smile wavered slightly when Dylan asked if three could be done today. He quoted Dylan a price a little higher than I was hoping for.

"We'll be back in a couple hours," Dylan said, shaking the man's hand.

As soon as we'd left the store, the shopkeeper locked the door behind us and placed a sign in the window saying he was working and to call a number if anyone needed in the shop. I made sure to take down the number.

With the next few hours free, we wandered around town again but this time without any particular destination. Predictably, we ended up in a store for pokemon trainers. I had already stocked up on poke balls before coming south so I headed to other sections of the store. There was a lot of money in my bank account and an empty spot in my backpack where I had kept my technical machines.

The store had several wooden racks built into the wall which had the small discs organized by type. I noted that there was a significant lack of bug-type TM's. Sure there were a lot of them, but there were all for the move 'silver wind'. I'd seen other bug ones at other stores but this store was lacking in selection. It didn't bother me a whole lot though because I wasn't looking to upgrade my bug pokemon. I flipped through them all for a long time and eventually decided to purchase 'shadow claw'. Ghost-type moves were fairly rare, especially offensive ones and you couldn't really ever have too many options.

We all made our purchases and then found a local restaurant for lunch. Not being a fan of seafood made it a bit harder for me to find something to eat but I eventually did. After burning as much time as we could at the little café we took back to walking around the city again. It had been three hours since we had left the jeweler's shop so we started to make our way back.

The shopkeeper was waiting for us once we found our way back. He had designed a thin wire cage for the stones that held them on three sides, obviously leaving the front uncovered. By grasping the top and bottom of the wire cage and pulling, the stone could be removed and switched with another. Each stone cage was strung from a black chain long enough that the stones would hang near the center of our chests. I popped my fire stone in mine and looped it over my head. I had to admit, it was pretty good work for such a short time. We paid the man and went on our way.

"So where exactly was this 'Shadow King' you saw?" I asked David.

"Where? I don't exactly know," he replied with a shrug. "I just saw a sign advertising him. Pretty sure it said north of the city. That'd make sense since people would be more likely to pass by then."

We oriented ourselves using the sun that was already descending and headed north. A few people we asked along the way had also heard of the self-proclaimed king but weren't sure of his exact location. They essentially came to the same conclusion we had: go north. It wasn't until we asked a nice old lady at a bus stop that we were given something concrete. Her daughter had challenged the King and she was able to provide us with his location. Apparently the man had set up shop in an abandoned carnival. She showed us the approximate location on the bus route map plastered to the back of the glass partition set to protect bus riders from the elements while they waited. It would be quite the hike so we joined the woman in waiting for the bus.

A half hour wait and a probably almost hour long bus ride later had us walking into the old abandoned carnival.

"Kind of has a Scooby Doo feeling to it," David mumbled.

He had a point. The long shadows cast by the sun made it seem even more like something the talking, mystery-solving arcanine would investigate. Everything had an unhealthy coating of dust, dirt and grime. Colorful, striped tents had faded and torn. Candy wrappers, crushed soda cups and cotton candy sticks littered the ground to indicate that at least at one time this place had been enjoyable. If it weren't for the large sign that had "This way to the Shadow King!" written on it in dripping red letters we would've assumed the place was completely abandoned.

We followed a trio of signs that led us around the park to the back. Large hills that were just shy of being able to be called mountains lined the back of the carnival on the outside of the perimeter fence.

"Welcome!" boomed a voice with that southern accent we were finally getting used to. "You come to challenge the Shadow King?"

A man was approaching us over the big space that had opened up. He was not what I had expected. He was dressed in an old-fashioned three piece suit and top hat. The monocle he wore was about as close to over the top as you could get without going completely over.

"Yeah, that's what we're here for," I confirmed. "Kind of a strange place to have trainers find you though."

The man shrugged. "I think of it kind of as my own personal Gym. I hope that by battling trainers and focusing on only using ghost-type pokemon, that I'll get there attention and get to open a real Gym."

I had never really thought about how the Pokemon League Gyms were decided upon and opened. This guy seemed to have as good of a plan as could be expected. People in the city knew of him and with enough trainers going into town to battle the actual Gym, there was a good chance of him getting noticed.

He introduced himself as Richard, although he pronounced it as Ri-shard. "So, will you all be taking my test?"

"Nope, just me," I said, holding up a poke ball. "I've come to claim your crown."

His eyes lit up. "Oh, well then! Let's not waste any time."

I took the area with the mountains to my back as my spot. Richard stood closer to the tents. He quickly conferred with someone that popped their head out a tent. I hadn't noticed anyone before but now that I was really looking, I could see several of the tents tremble slightly with movement. I could tell that Dylan and David, standing a few feet behind me, also noticed it.

"Are you ready?" Richard called to me, hoisting his own poke ball. I nodded and he announced, "Behold, the Shadow King!"

I had been told what to expect but the dusknoir was still a little creepy. The yellow lines on it's round abdomen looking like a face; the cylindrical head and single eye surrounded by something like a lapel; the lack of legs, just the wispy tail like a genie from a story might have. It reached out with a bulky arm and waved for me to bring it on.

"Challenger, the Prince of Darkness!"

When the poke ball burst open on the field, there was a brief glimpse of a pointed purple pokemon before it burst into a white light. The floating hands fused back to the main body which was becoming more rounded. Two feet split out of where the pointed tail had been. Although I could only see the spiky back and short tail as the light began to fade, I knew there was a toothy grin and red eyes awaited me on the other side.

"Gengar, the Prince of Darkness!" I announced with a flourish of hands.

David was dumbstruck at the evolution but Dylan just laughed. "You bastard. When I was doing my trading experiments, you sent Haunter through so it would evolve."

"I call that being clever," I retorted.

"A taste for the dramatic, I like that," Richard said from across the field. "However, it will take more than dramatics to save you now! Dusknoir, dark pulse!"

The two big arms cupped the hands in between the two eye-like marks on the ghost pokemon's body. A ball of purple and black circles formed in the hands and then blasted out in a beam.

"Gengar, move!"

The newly evolved pokemon jumped into the air and corkscrewed around the incoming beam. It didn't get clear fast enough and rode the shockwave from the explosion into the ground. Gengar bounced once before regaining it's composure and floating back into the air.

"Gengar, shadow ball!" I ordered.

"Counter with shadow ball!" Richard yelled.

The two black orbs slammed into each other. At first they just ground into one another, each trying to exert it's will over the other. Then they just exploded into dark fire and billowing black smoke. It at least told me something important: even though Dusknoir was undoubtedly the higher leveled pokemon, Gengar packed enough of a punch to put them on fairly even ground.

I pointed at Dusknoir. "Get in close!"

Gengar bobbed and weaved through the air, dodging shadow balls. Speed seemed to be my big advantage so far. Dusknoir moved so slow that my pokemon looked almost like it was a movie being fast forwarded. When Gengar got close, I was about to call for hypnosis when Dusknoir's stomach opened. Apparently the yellow line that looked like a mouth actually was a mouth. A roaring black wind blew out and sent Gengar flying back. The mouth closed and the ominous wind subsided. An aura slowly swept over Dusknoir, glowing in five different colors as it did.

"Watch out!" Dylan called to me. "Ominous wind just boosted all it's stats!"

The most obvious sign that he was right was watching Dusknoir chase after Gengar. My pokemon was still faster but Dusknoir had definitely closed the gap a bit. Gengar bobbed and weaved through the air as it avoided fire punch after fire punch.

I glanced to my side and noticed that the shadows from the nearby tents were beginning to stretch further into our battlefield. "Gengar, get into the shadows!"

This was something I had worked on with the pokemon when it was still a haunter. As Haunter, it blended in well with the shadows making it hard to see; as a gengar, it disappeared entirely. With another command I sent it zipping from shadow to shadow. Dusknoir whirled around in a futile attempt to track Gengar. Other than a quick black flash as it changed shadow locations it was essentially invisible.

Now I had my opening. "Gengar, shadow ball!"

Dusknoir guessed a shadow and turned to face it. It guessed wrong. The shadow ball exploded against Dusknoir's right flank. It turned and hurled a shadow ball of it's own but it detonated harmlessly against the ground. Gengar had already moved to another shadow although I had no idea which one.

"Night shade!"

In a shadow to my left I saw two sources of crackling black lightning. They came together and a web of black lightning streaked out at Dusknoir. The bigger ghost pokemon spied this attack and lurched to the side. The night shade just grazed it, spinning it around.

"Use fire punch!" Richard ordered. "Wade into the shadows!"

Holding it's flaming fists aloft, Dusknoir began entering the shadows. The light it's fire gave off was enough to dry up the shadows around it. At first this didn't seem like a big deal. Gengar just moved on to the next shadow. Then Dusknoir began punching the ground and leaving small fires burning. The shadows began to dry up.

"Hypnosis!"

Gengar came flying out at Dusknoir, red eyes glowing. An illusion of it's eyes shot out at Dusknoir. Dusknoir lunged at the eyes. The fire punch dissolved the image and kept going until it connected with Gengar. Dusknoir drove my pokemon to the ground with the fire punch and then added another one for good measure. Gengar managed to squirm away before Dusknoir could use it again. Floating a little lopsidedly, my pokemon found one of the few remaining shadows to disappear into.

"Not good, not good," I muttered to myself. Gengar had already taken a lot of damage and dished out very little in return. It was currently flitting between shadows as Dusknoir hurled shadow balls into them.

"You can't keep this up forever," Richard called to me, a mocking tone in his voice. "You aren't the first one to try this tactic. Dusknoir, triple dark pulse!"

Dusknoir held up it's arms in opposite directions, palms facing outwards, as the mouth on it's stomach opened. Balls of black circles formed in all three locations. As the three balls burst out into beams Dusknoir began to spin. The three beams dragged across the landscape leaving destruction in their path. One found Gengar and slammed it to the ground before exploding.

"Gengar!" I yelled. "Are you ok?"

The ghost pokemon didn't move at first. Then it rolled off it's back and slowly pushed itself up. As it stood, it's arms hung limply like they just lifted the heaviest thing in the world. Something formed between the two palms. I couldn't tell what it was at first, all I could see was motion. When Gengar took a step forward I got a better look: it was a dark pulse. Through sheer force of will, Gengar had learned dark pulse.

"Fire!" I shouted, pointed at Dusknoir.

"Gen-gar!" Gengar shoved the dark pulse forward and the beam blasted out. Dusknoir still wasn't fast enough to dodge and took the blast full force. As it disappeared into the explosion, I knew we had our opening.

"Shadow punch!" I ordered. "Three-hit combo!"

Gengar threw two quick jabs and an upper cut. With each punch, an illusion of it's hand shot out with a long shadowy tail leaving a streak through the air. The two jabs went right at Dusknoir while the upper cut arced up and then descended at the dusknoir. All three slammed into it with perfect accuracy. Dusknoir tumbled out of the explosion.

"Dark pulse!" Richard and I screamed at the same time.

The two pulses slammed together and detonated. Richard tried to blow it back towards Gengar and me with an ominous wind. I had Gengar throw a pair of shadow balls back through it which missed their target but did make Dusknoir move.

"Hypnosis!"

Gengar jumped up and flew into the billowing smoke cloud. It raced out the far side of the cloud. Instead of approaching head on, Gengar was now on Dusknoir's right. The bigger ghost pokemon swiveled to meet it's opponent. Just as it completed the turn, the illusion of Gengar's red eyes slammed into it. Dusknoir's big eye slid closed.

"Rapid-fire shadow punch!" I yelled, throwing a punch of my own.

Gengar threw it's arms out and it sailed backwards up into the sky. When it was at a satisfactory distance, it began throwing all sorts of punches. Shadowy fists streaked down out of the sky and slammed into Dusknoir. It reminded me of watching an attack helicopter firing a missile pod until it was empty. At some point during the barrage, Dusknoir awoke and began trying to fend off some of the punches.

I changed tactics. "Shadow ball!"

The smaller ghost pokemon fired off two last shadow punches and then raised it's hands above it's head. The shadow ball pulsed to life there. Gengar heaved it down at the earth. Dusknoir looked up to see the incoming ghost-type attack and began creating it's own shadow ball.

"Dark pulse!"

The beam of black circles followed closely behind the shadow ball. When Dusknoir's ball diffused Gengar's, the dark pulse tore through the explosion and slammed into Dusknoir. The explosion extinguished any fires left from when Richard's pokemon had attempted to dispose of the shadows. Deeply charred by the explosion, Dusknoir had a hard time getting off the ground.

"Back into the shadows!" I ordered.

Dusknoir washed the shadows over with an ominous wind but the pokemon was tiring. Gengar was merely just thrown back a few feet. The battle had just about reached it's climax.

"Dark pulse!" Richard cried, desperation evident in his voice.

"Shadow ball!"

Gengar zipped around the sky in abrupt movements as it closed in on Dusknoir. A shadow ball hovered in each palm. Dusknoir tried to track it with the dark pulse but Gengar was too agile for it. When they got close, Gengar heaved the first shadow ball. Dusknoir disappeared in the explosion, the dark pulse didn't die out but did go way off target. Gengar swooped in as the smoke began to clear and delivered a point-blank shadow ball to Dusknoir's face.

Dusknoir froze for a moment and then tipped over like a great tree that had been sawed off.

"Behold!" I exclaimed. "The new Shadow King!"

Poke balls suddenly burst open on either side of me. Dylan's electabuzz and David's wartortle were now on the battlefield and charging in. Gengar and I shared a confused look.

Then I saw the man standing behind Richard.

There was nothing distinct about him. He was an ordinary looking guy with black hair. He had no distinguishing marks about him. There was absolutely nothing memorable about him. Yet, I knew him as soon as I laid eyes on him.

He was one of two trainers from Team Rocket that Dylan and I had battled in Pallet Town.


	41. Chapter 41

Fire, lightning and water ripped the sky as I swapped out Gengar for a fresh Charmeleon.

The tent behind Richard had exploded open, releasing other Rockets and a variety of pokemon. They quickly fanned out and had us pinned against the fence. Vlad the wartortle and Charmeleon were trying to cut us a path to freedom through a group of gabite using flamethrower and water gun. Dylan's electabuzz was keeping a swarm of golbat away from us by spreading a thunderbolt out over the sky.

"This isn't going well!" I yelled as I sidestepped a stray razor leaf.

"What do you want me to do about it?" David snapped as he released his graveller onto the field. "I can only battle so many at once!"

A trio grimer were trying to move to flank us so I sent Gengar back onto the field to deal with them. A dark pulse and a pair of shadow balls sent them sludging back from where they had come. Unfortunately, they were quickly replaced by more pokemon. Dylan brought Dustox out but we were still outnumbered. A quick glance told me that even if we emptied our belt holsters, the numbers still wouldn't be in our favor.

"Can we get out over the fence?" Dylan shouted over his shoulder.

I glanced back at it. "No way. Even if we got over it, we'd be easy pickings heading uphill."

"Any other ideas?"

More Rockets were emerging from the carnival tents. A group of lairon, claydol, and seviper joined the ever-closing perimeter around us. At the moment, a rough count told me our six pokemon were outnumbered at least four to one. Things just kept getting worse for us.

"What if we-" David was cut off by a deafening roar.

I froze instantly. I had felt that roar all the way into my bones. The Rockets had brought something extremely powerful with them. It was all over for us now.

Then I realized the Rockets had stopped moving too. All their eyes were fixed on a point above my head. I turned back to look. Something stood at the top of the small mountain that had been at our backs. It was far enough away and with the sun at its back so it was hidden by shadows so I couldn't see much of it. All I could tell was that it stood on four legs and either something like smoke or a cape billowing behind it. It roared again. A jagged tail appeared as it whipped around. It commanded the attention of the entire battle, not even the pokemon were moving.

"What. The. Hell," I breathed.

The shadow figured raised its head and roared again. Up in the sky, clouds swirled around and turned dark. Lightning began to gather and crackle in its cape/cloud. It gathered for a few moments and then exploded out when the creature roared again. The lightning coalesced into a single lightning bolt that was more mammoth than anything I had ever seen before.

"No!" Dylan screamed as the huge lightning bolt found its presumed target: Dylan's electabuzz.

Electabuzz screeched as the lightning bolt slammed down atop it. There was no explosion like I had expected, instead Electabuzz was forced down like a great weight was pushing down on it. Gritted teeth and eyes clenched, Electabuzz fought with all its might. Arm and leg muscles began to bulge. The tail began to swell. Suddenly, Electabuzz straightened up as if nothing had happened. its eyes snapped open. They glowed white.

Evolutionary white.

Electabuzz's body erupted in the same white light as its eyes. The legs and arms of the electric pokemon continued to swell. The tail split into two as the whole pokemon grew in size. The light faded to reveal a much more humanoid pokemon. The head had sunken down closer to the shoulders. Black stripes covered the now red eyes like a mask. Two tails that looked just like wires snapped in the background. Electivire made a fist with its black fingers as lightning still crackled around it. It let out a low chuckle as small currents ran up and down its body.

"Oh hell yes!" Dylan shouted. "Electivire, thunder punch!"

Electivire exploded across the ground, feet barely touching. A yellow streak from its glowing thunder punch followed it along as it slammed punches into pokemon after pokemon. It was moving at an unrivaled speed. No Rocket pokemon could even keep track of the electric pokemon as it laid waste to them.

I spared a moment to look back where the creature that had fired the lightning bolt had stood. Whatever it was, it was gone now. Other than the newly evolved Electivire, there was no sign that it had ever even been there.

"So not only did that lightning somehow trigger an evolution, it activated Elective's ability," David said as he stroked his beard. He had gone from panicked to completely calm in record time. "What could've generated that kind of power?"

David's graveller and wartortle had joined up with my charmeleon and gengar to follow in Electivire's wake. They were taking care of any pokemon that didn't fall right away to a thunder punch or any pokemon that Electivire had to skip because it was immune to electricity. I noticed that as the small lightning bolts that had been running along Electivire began to fade, it started to slow down.

The fence to our right exploded. David and I whirled to meet whatever was coming through. Team Rocket had clearly called for backup. I had just grabbed a poke ball when a bronzong floated through the new hole. It was followed by an alakazam. Both were on high alert. Something seemed amiss but I couldn't place my finger on it until a familiar figure walked through: Marie, the psychic Gym Leader.

Marie surveyed the destruction we had wrought. "It seems I have arrived a bit late. I had a vision and realized this was in fact the Shadow King I had seen before"

"Don't worry," I said, waving her off. "I beat him. Me and Gengar are the Shadow Kings now."

She shot me a look. "That is not what I meant and you know it. You should not have come here alone! You need to stop antagonizing Team Rocket!"

"Are you serious?" Dylan snapped, finally being torn away from watching his new pokemon. "We aren't trying to antagonize them! They just keep showing up places trying to kill us!"

"Yeah, you can't blame us for this," David agreed. "We're just going about our business when they show up."

A swarm of police started pouring into the amusement park. Almost all the Rocket members had already fled so they really didn't have anyone to pump for information. Once they secured all of the Rocket's pokemon, we put our pokemon away and were interviewed for our statements. Since we were already logged in the federal case and Marie could vouch for us they didn't hold us for very long. The authorities did however insist that we stay in town so they could make sure Team Rocket didn't come after us again. It was the police's dime, so we didn't object to being put up in a hotel.

We checked out early the next morning. Just to be on the safe side, we caught a bus north. I had originally wanted to head west and go to the ground-type gym in Arizona but serious storms above the Grand Canyon state had convinced us to leave that Gym for later. Instead we had agreed to head north up to fire gym up in Washington. The downside of this was that it was winter.

At first it was just a temperature drop as we moved from Louisiana to Arkansas. Then the snow began to fall when we his Kansas. At first it wasn't a problem. There was a store specifically for pokemon trainers that allowed them to donate light weather gear for a big discount on heavy weather gear. We swapped light jackets for winter coats and picked up some light boots more suited to snow than our walking shoes. When we started running into more trainers and having to battle more was when the snow really started affecting us, me more than the others. When it was really snowing and blowing, I had to keep Charmeleon and Grovyle in their poke balls. I began to lean heavily on Heracross, Pikachu and Gengar as the winter weather intensified.

A few weeks later, we found ourselves huddled around a small campfire at night. We were near the border of Nebraska and Wyoming. Our tent did next to nothing against the cold aside from stopping the wind but our sleeping bags were enough to keep us warm. Sleeping three to a small tent was not exactly comfortable but it sure beat freezing.

"So I was thinking," Dylan said, breaking our silence.

David and I looked to him to continue.

"I'm trying to figure out something with these pokemon Generations. Shouldn't there technically be five generations already? Shouldn't the one that's on its way be the sixth?"

I shook my head. "I don't follow."

He held up a finger for each name as he rattled off, "Omanyte, kabuto, aerodactyl, lileep, anorith, cranidos, shieldon and their respective evolutions. Technically those are all pokemon that only exist these days because they were resurrected from fossils. They're ancient, prehistoric even. How can they all belong to different generations? Logic would say that they all existed at the same time if they're all being dug up at similar depths. Or if nothing else, their lifespan would've been more likely to overlap than the pokemon in the generations they're associated with."

"Maybe it's because they were all found in different areas of the world and at different times," David suggested. "They might've just been lumped in with whatever generation was from that location."

"Maybe, but isn't that still disingenuous? They don't belong in that generation. If anything, they're their own generation. I've been referring to them as Generation Zero lately."

"Lately?" I repeated. "Have you been making friends out here in the middle of nowhere without us noticing?"

Dylan shook his head and reached back for his pack. From it he produced a spiral bound notebook. "I've been writing down ideas I've had like that and been trying to expand of them. Been doing it for a while now."

Now that he had mentioned it, I had seen the notebook before but never asked about it. I had assumed it was some kind of journal. "Anything else interesting?"

"Yeah, hold on." Dylan flipped a few pages until he found what he was looking for. "Here's something to consider: your charmander came from America. Pretty early on, it learned metal claw. I remember you using it." I nodded, remembering as well. "But get this. A charmander from let's say… South America, wouldn't learn that. There's actually significantly different moves that the two pokemon would learn despite being the same pokemon. Your charmander started out along the list that included metal claw but at some point, deviated from that list. It switched to the South American move list which included fire fang, which you use now."

I blinked. I had never realized this. Come to think of it, I wasn't even sure I knew that there was something such as different move lists.

"You think it has something to do with where they're from?" David asked. "If Tim's charmander is from North America, we don't have a Generation yet. Maybe we start as a blank slate. Once it came into contact with a pokemon from South America, it picked up the Fourth Generation abilities."

"I thought of that although I figured that our pokemon probably start with the European or the Third Generation move sets because America was originally an English colony so I figured that made sense. What I can't figure out is how it would go from one move set to another."

"Some type of radiation?" I was tired of being left out. I could sound smart too. "Maybe each Generation emits it own type of essentially harmless radiation. Each Generation's radiation signature is stronger than the previous ones' so it just overwrites them and slightly alters each pokemon's DNA."

Dylan was writing furiously. "I like it. Basically any pokemon from a later Generation or one that's already come in contact with one is basically like a walking TM. It doesn't actually teach your pokemon any new moves but it does alter the moves it can learn in the future. I like that a lot. Not entirely sure how you'd even attempt to prove something like that but I like the idea of it."

"Could it have something to do with the actual country itself?" David asked. "Could it actually be the land itself giving off the radiation?" He paused for a moment and then said, "Wait, no. That wouldn't work. Then how would pokemon get overwritten with the new Generation?"

"Got anything else?" I asked, trying to look over at the notebook.

"Well you already know my trading theory," he said as he flipped pages. "I'm trying to figure out baby pokemon. You know, pichu, elekid and such. I don't understand how they could be pre-evolutions of First Generation pokemon that didn't exist until the Second Generation."

I looked at David and we traded shrugs. We had no ideas to offer on that particular topic. Dylan ran a few more ideas past us but we didn't have anything worthwhile to add. He definitely had some interesting ideas though.

That night I dreamed of the forest again. Or at least, I was pretty sure I did. It was different than before so I couldn't tell if it was related to the others. All I remembered was the four-legged creature I had seen looked at me and snorted in disgust. When I brought it up the next morning, neither Dylan or David had had a dream so I wrote it off to my subconscious still thinking about pokemon theories.

The snow began really piling up against us the next few days. Going had been slow before but now we were moving at a crawl. The only thing that was allowing us to keep any semblance of a decent pace was that we were the only trainers dumb enough to be walking. Even the wild pokemon weren't wandering around.

David's head suddenly jerked up. "Do you feel that?"

We stopped walking. The sun was setting as we crunched across a vast open plain that had been fortunate enough to only receive a light dusting of snow. Outside of the calls of a few straggling bird pokemon heading south, I hadn't heard anything but our own slightly labored breathing and the sound of snow under our boots for quite some time. Dylan and I fell silent anyways.

Dylan pulled his glasses off to clean them and paused mid-wipe. "What is that?"

"You feel it too?"

"Yeah. What is that?"

I opened my mouth to say that they were crazy but then I felt it too: a slight rumbling in the ground. It seemed to be increasing in power too. All three of us dropped to a knee and placed a hand on the ground as we pretended like we might be able to determine where it's coming from.

"Oh shit!" David rocketed back up. He pointed north, or maybe north-west. "Look at that!"

A billowing dust and snow cloud reached up into the sky. Whatever was kicking up the spray was churning right at us. It was maintaining a steady pace as it closed the gap.

"Stampede?" Dylan asked.

"Maybe." I now had to raise my voice to be heard. "But of what?"

The mass grew close enough to determine that whatever was stampeding was a gray color. There didn't seem to be a large number of them so they had to be pretty heavy.

"Rhyhorn!" David announced, alarmed. "Get out of the way! They won't stop for anything!"

In a matter of seconds, I could see them too. Quadruped bony gray beasts with massive front horns. David was right; once they started charging, they wouldn't stop for until they fell asleep. Dylan grabbed my coat sleeve and we hustled out of the way. The rock pokemon pounded past us. We had to move further away unless we wanted to be coated with dirt and snow.

Dylan clutched my arm, his grip vice-like. He screamed in my ear, "Where's David?"

A cold feeling crept into my stomach. Once we had started to move out of the path of the rhyhorn, I hadn't seen David. There was no telling where he was. Hopefully it was out of harm's way.

Dylan and I stood shoulder to shoulder in silence as we watched the beasts charge past. A brief flash punctured the tail plume as the last rhyhorn passed us. It took more than a few minutes for all the crap in the air to dissipate. When it did, a weight lifted off my shoulders. David was standing on the other side of the trench that the pounding rhyhorn feet had made, a little dirty but unharmed. In his hand was a poke ball.

"You battled one of them?" Dylan asked as we crossed to David's side of the trench.

David shook his head. "Didn't have to."

"Huh?"

"It was lagging behind at the end. Really beat up and limping pretty bad. I'm surprised it was still running at all."

He tossed the ball into the air and when it released its contents, it was immediately clear what he meant. All the big ridges that ran along the rhyhorn were nicked and chipped. its entire body heaved as it breathed deeply. They rhyhorn moved slowly towards David and I noticed the back right leg was dragging and causing the limp. This pokemon had clearly seen better days.

"See?" David crouched down and to put a hand on the pokemon's snout, just behind the horn. The pokemon responded with a shuddering breath. "Don't worry buddy. We'll get you all fixed up. You'll be good as new and back to the old war machine you used to be."

Dylan laughed. "Let me guess, you just came up with a name for your rhyhorn?"

"War Machine it is," David said with a smile.

It took us a while to convince ourselves but we eventually climbed aboard a bus to speed our travels along. Even the bus ride wasn't especially speedy given that the roads were covered by a layer of ice and snow. Roughly a month after we had left the psychic gym in New Orleans, we arrived in Battle Ground, Washington. Now just another forty miles separated us from the fire gym that sat atop Mount Saint Helens. In the cold and snow, however, that forty miles sure seemed like a long ways.

"We might as well get moving," David said as he stretched after stepping off the bus. "It's a long ways to the Gym."

"Screw you dude," I replied. "We just sat on that bus for three hours; it's eight at night; I have to pee something fierce. I'm staying the night in the pokemon center."

"That wouldn't be a bad idea." Dylan was changing between looking at the sky and my smart phone that he had borrowed. "It's supposed to start snowing soon. I'd really rather not start our trip in the dark and a snow storm. Better it at least be daylight if we're going to be walking in a snow storm…"

Even David, the eternal outdoorsman, had to agree with that thought.

The closest pokemon center was surprisingly full of trainers. After we got our pokemon healed up, we staked out three of the last bunks available. Dylan and David disappeared into the crowded lounge. After I sent a quick email to Professor Oak requesting Corphish be readied for transfer, I was content to lay down on my bunk, partially to listen to the chatter that flowed through the room and partially to keep an eye on our things. It wouldn't be the end of the world if some of our food got swiped. You never know what might happen if our elemental stones got stolen though.

Dylan and David returned to my location after about half an hour. In that time, more trainers had entered the lodging area. Some were actually turned away because all the beds were taken up. The constant conversation created a sea of white noise that made it hard to pick up the trail of any conversation you weren't directly involved in.

"Get anything good?" I asked.

"It looks like a lot of people here are heading for the Gym tomorrow," Dylan reported.

David nodded his agreement. "I'd say at least half. If not more."

I stated the obvious. "That's not good."

"No shit."

Dylan snorted. "The question is what do we do now? What's the weather like?"

David got up and checked a window. When he came back, he said, "No snow yet. Not a ton of clouds even."

"What are you thinking?" I asked Dylan.

"Let's leave now."

I blinked in confusion. "What?"

"It's not snowing yet," he explained. "We can get a good jump on everyone if we leave now. We're already far enough north that I'm pretty sure the buses can't help us anymore. We've got plenty of food, we've got coats and tents and as long as we stick to the paths, we've got nothing to lose."

I looked at David. I don't know why I had even bothered. He was already sold. He was the one that had wanted to get moving as soon as we got here.

"Let it be known that I hate you guys," I sighed as I stood. "Let's go."

It wasn't long before we knew that we hadn't made a good choice. We hadn't even been on the trail for an hour when the snow started. It stung my face and smudged my glasses but I trudged on like a good soldier. I wasn't super thrilled about it, but it wasn't all that terrible. When the snow really starting coming down was when things got dicey. At first it was ok but then the wind really started howling through the trees. Exposed skin burned with the cold. We minimized our exposed flesh but were presented with another problem: the trail we were trying to follow was quickly disappearing under the snow. Continue to go and just follow the path on the GPS was our first solution but quickly the big clouds were wreaking havoc with the satellite connection. With no other option, we quickly got our tent setup.

There we sat, snow and wind pounding against the thin material of our tent, with nothing to do and not tired enough to sleep. I dug out a pack of playing cards and we played various games for an hour or so. Very quickly we just decided it wouldn't hurt to try and fall asleep now so we could get as early of a start as possible tomorrow. We had put some space between us and those still at the pokemon center but it wasn't a huge lead.

_The forest was back._

_I was sure of it this time. Even more plants that I was familiar with had invaded the foreign forest. Normal ferns formed a border along the path that I was walking. I reached out and touched a low branch of a tree that I had never seen before. At first I wondered if I should be worried about natural toxins but I found it hard to believe that I could be poisoned in my own dreams._

_The path began to trend upward. The loose dirt path lead me up a small hill. A much larger stone peak overshadowed it. The path ended at the apex of the hill. A small breeze rippled the grass that creeped over my shoes as I stepped off the path. This felt like where I was supposed to be, I just didn't know why._

_Then I looked up._

_Standing atop the high-up stone peak was a creature bathed in shadows. It took me a moment but I realized it was the third specter I had seen in my dream last time. The crooked horns atop its head made it easily distinguishable. For what seemed like a long time, it just stared at me. At least I was pretty sure it was staring at me._

"_Why am I here?" I called up to it._

_There was no response. I was beginning to think maybe it couldn't see me._

"_You disgust me." The words came at me in a snarl._

"_Wait, what?"_

"_You bend pokemon to your will. You have no consideration for their feelings."_

_I took a step forward. "Hold up here. How can you say that?"_

"_I have watched you."_

_Now I was really confused._

"_I have watched you for some time now." The voice had gone down to a growl but was rising back up to a snarl. "You are just like all the other humans."_

"_Then you know that I treat my pokemon with love and respect."_

"_You lie."_

"_I tried to set Steelix free! It got angry at me!" I was getting angry myself now. Who was this thing to judge me? I had been nothing but kind to my pokemon. "I gave Staraptor a chance to battle again even though I didn't have to!"_

_There just a moment of hesitation. "I have not seen these things."_

_I threw my hands up in the air. "Oh, so because I haven't done any great acts of kindness lately I'm a bad person? How is that fair? What I've done in the past means nothing?"_

"_Enough!" The creature was really angry now. "Your kind has treated my kind with disrespect for long enough! You do not deserve the friendship we offer to you! I do not have to listen to this as a beast has not marked you yet!" It paused as if considering whether it should continue. "When the time comes, you best hope you can withstand what comes your way. The bridge that connects our worlds is forming. Whether we will cross that bridge has yet to be determined. You best remember that, human." It practically spat the last word._

_The dream began to fade as I realized I had just talked with a pokemon._

The next thing I knew, I was back in the tent and flailing myself awake. I caught a forearm across the bridge of the nose and flopped back to the ground, holding my nose. David and Dylan had lurched awake as well, doing that startled flail you do when you wake suddenly. I wiped at my nose as I waited for the others to calm down. No blood.

"So I got yelled at by something in the shadows," I said. "That same third thing I had seen before. Let me guess: the same for you guys?"

"Not so much yelling," Dylan said and added a yawn. "More of a stern talking to about how I was not a friend to pokemon or something."

"Oh, I got yelled at," David chuckled. "Something about it not having to listen to me because I hadn't been marked yet?"

"Sounds familiar." I grabbed a different pair of jeans from my back and pulled them on over my long underwear. "Mine definitely referred to the coming of the Fifth Generation. At least, I'm pretty sure. I think I was actually threatened. I think it said they might not cross into our world."

David was already rolling up his sleeping bag. "I don't know if I got that message but it was not happy with us. By us, I mean humanity."

"It seems like heaping their issues with humanity onto us is a little unfair. We've got a lot of other things going on here besides being shining examples of our species. There's still a few more days of trudging through deep snow until we get to the Gym. Then there's the actual gym battle. Then there's still two more Gyms to get to!"

"You whine a lot," Dylan pointed out.

The snow had fallen heavily overnight. The light wind had pushed it into a swell at the front of our tent. I had to carefully climb over it to get out of the tent. Sunshine peeked through the trees and made the snow almost unbearably bright. But at least it had stopped snowing. We quickly deconstructed the tent, packed away the pieces and ate our breakfast on the go.

The going was slow but steady. Snow drifts rose almost to our knees in places but more importantly, it was over the tops of our boots almost everywhere. I had to put up with the horrible sensation you get when cold snow sneaks down into your boot for the entire morning. When we took a break for lunch, Dylan got Quilava to create a gentle enough flame to dry out our boots and socks but still do it quickly enough so we wouldn't get frostbite. After that, the march continued.

Day quickly faded into night. The barren woods took on an ominous feel late at night, or even early in the evening since it was completely dark by six or so local time. Sounds carried further without leaves to muffle them. I was certain there were pokemon out there but it was impossible to tell where they were. Dylan was certain he had seen a few glalie float by but since he didn't chase after them, I didn't believe him at all.

In the distance, what I could only assume was Mount Saint Helens had appeared days ago. Now it loomed high above us. Our second day of walking we had been lucky to get a faster pace going. As we had crested a large hill the day before, we could make out a group of people following our trail. They were still pretty far back but that's how we wanted it to stay.

"A wild pokemon center appears!" David declared, pointed across me to our left.

It might as well have come out of no where as far as I was concerned. I hadn't seen the pokemon center until David had spoke up. I'd like to claim it was because I was so focused on getting up the mountain but I know it was more likely because I just flat out wasn't paying attention.

Inside we took a few minutes to get warmed up while our pokemon were healed. We hadn't used them lately but we figured it couldn't hurt. At first I couldn't find a transfer machine. I held my breath as I glanced around the center that reminded me of a ski lodge. If I couldn't get Corphish, things would be much more difficult at the mountaintop. Eventually one of the staffers asked me what I was looking for and then took me to a room in the back where the machine was located. I punched in Oak's number and stepped back as the transfer took place. The second water pokemon would be key to winning against the Gym Leader of Fire.

It was when we moved back outside that I noticed something very important: there was no Gym here. I looked left and then right. I even walked around to the back of the pokemon center. All there was was Mount Saint Helens herself. Three paths started at the base and worked their way up the body of the volcano. A sign at the base of them informed us that all three paths did in fact reach the summit, the time it took to travel them all varied. One of them averaged about an hour, one about two hours and the third three. I failed to see what that had to do with anything.

"So… what's going on?" I asked. "Isn't there supposed to be a Gym here?"

Dylan was fiddling with his GPS. "I can't get a good signal here, but I'm almost certain this is where it's supposed to be. It was right at the volcano, I'm sure of it."

"Right at or right in?" We both turned to look at David and he continued with, "I'd bet money that we have to take one of these paths up to the top of the volcano."

"Seriously?" I said aloud. "Can't anything ever be easy? Why must these Gyms always be in the middle of nowhere?"

"Because," David replied, taking on a serious tone, "part of becoming a trainer is facing adversity both on and off the battlefield. Traversing the wilderness both weeds out the undedicated and builds character."

Dylan and I laughed, then he asked, "Where did you get that from?"

"Think I saw it in a book somewhere," he said with a grin.

"Sounded very official."

I just shook my head as I started up the center path. It started out at a gentle incline but rapidly grew in steepness. I had to guess we had chosen the intermediate path. It seemed like a very direct route but it was difficult to traverse. Fallen logs, high ledges, big rocks and strangely large holes were just a few of the obstacles that slowed our climb. We seemed to be making pretty good time until I took a wrong step and twisted my ankle. A time-out was called to let me recover.

"You sure you're alright?" David asked as I lowered myself onto a log.

I waved him away. "Just jammed it or something. Give me a few minutes."

David nodded, content with my response and then looked to Dylan. "I'm going to go check out one of those holes we kept seeing," he said. "They're all pretty similar in size so I think something had to have made them. Want to come?"

"Might as well."

The two of them trotted off leaving me along with my thoughts. Quickly my thoughts turned to food which wasn't a huge surprise. I slung my backpack off my shoulders and rummaged around until I plucked out one of my last granola bars. I had probably enough food to make it back down the mountain and into the closest town but beyond that was going to be iffy. As soon as I tore the foil open, I heard a noise behind me.

"Sno?" called out a small voice.

I rotated my upper body around slowly. Standing not two feet behind me was a pokemon. It was maybe three feet tall and its white, green and brown color scheme reminded me of a snow covered pine tree. It was white from the mountain shaped thing on its head, down past the two green-pupiled eyes and halfway up the long arms that turned to green. Its stubby feet were brown and so was the lowest section of its body.

"Well hey there," I said to the snover. "How's it going?"

The snover called out again and I noticed it was eyeing my granola bar so I broke it off a piece. "Here you go." I held it out to the pokemon.

The snover took a step back and eyed me warily. It didn't really seem scared, just hesitant. I had to assume that it probably hadn't seen very many people. I paused for a moment and then reached down to my belt, touching each of the poke balls there until I found the right one. Igglybuff burst into existence with a happy cry. It bounced around for a moment before I managed to corral it into the crook of my elbow. I held out the granola bar piece to Iggs and it stuffed it into its mouth with a joyous noise. Breaking off another piece, I offered it to the snover again. This time it quickly accepted it. As it munched it waddled over and climbed up on the log to sit next to me.

I briefly wondered if it was wrong to feed a grass pokemon granola but if it ate it, I figured it couldn't be that bad.

"So," I said, attempting to fill the silent void. "Not get many humans up this way?"

The snover cooed back a response that had a negative sound to it.

"We're not all bad," I said as I let Iggs wander around. "Don't get me wrong though, some of us definitely are. I'm not though. Just passing through to get to the Gym inside the volcano. Had to stop because I twisted my ankle though."

This time the snover made an inquisitive sound. I gave a small laugh and handed it the rest of the granola bar.

"Food must be hard to find out here. I see you don't even have any snoverberries. There must not be enough sun to make them. That's got to be rough. Actually, I know the feeling. I'm running low on food myself. I've got maybe a week's supply left before I need to restock. But at least I can just go to the store to restock. You've actually got to either grow or find your food… or sunlight, I think."

The snover sounded sad.

I gave a shrug. "You could come with me if you wanted. I'd have to catch you but I'd make sure you never went hungry. You'd have to battle though because I am a pokemon trainer and all but we have fun. I'd say ask Iggs here, but Iggs doesn't battle yet. Probably could but it just doesn't feel right to send it out there yet."

The snover looked up at me with big eyes. I sensed that it was enticed by my offer. There was still a bit of hesitation though.

"Tell you what," I said as I stood up to test my ankle which was feeling better. "I'll make sure to come back down this path. If you want to come with me and all my friends on our adventures, just keep an eye out for me. If not, no hard feelings."

The snover considered this and then nodded. Some snow fell off its body as it did. It said something cheery and then waddled back into the woods. I smiled as I collected Igglybuff. It was more likely than not that I would never see the snover again but I still felt like it was a granola bar well used.

A few minutes passed and then suddenly Dylan came around the curve of the volcano. He was moving at a pretty good pace, not quite running but not walking either. Strangely enough, there seemed to be a little charring on his heavy winter coat.

"So," he said in a high voice as he got closer, "those holes… Yeah, something made them."

I waved for him to continue but before he could, a gout of fire shot into the air from the direction he'd come from. Faint whispers of David's voice echoed over the ground as well.

I looked at Dylan in horror. "What the hell did you unleash? A tyranitar or something?"

"No way, I'd be over there trying to catch it if it was." Dylan's voice had returned to its normal octave by this point. "It's just a really pissed of torkoal. I wanted nothing to do with it so I took off. I think it was trying to follow me because it thinks I woke it up when David launched an attack."

"Torkoal," I repeated, thinking of the red-skinned pokemon with the shell that looked like rock. "I'm surprised they live here."

"It's a volcano. I'm not."

David suddenly appeared in our view. He was backing his way towards us. Vlad the wartortle came into view next followed by a panting and heaving torkoal giving chase. I wasn't sure why but David seemed to be coaxing the fire tortoise into following him. It was certainly powerful judging from the size of the flamethrowers it was spitting but Vlad had both power and speed on its side. It only took two more water guns along with whatever other damage had already been inflicted for the torkoal to slump to the ground. David pitched an empty poke ball at it and easily captured it. A light snow began to fall and it steamed as it landed on the poke ball.

"Gentlemen," he announced as he retrieved the ball. "I'd like to introduce you to Raph."

"Raph?" I raised an eyebrow. "As in Raphael from Teenage Mutant Ninja Squirtles?"

"You know it."

"Yes!"

The smack of our high-five echoed down the mountainside.

"I loved that show as a kid," I said with a laugh.

"Did anyone not?"

Dylan's addition to the conversation was snatched away by a scream from Vlad. The three of us whirled around to see the wartortle hunkering down as if in pain. Its whole body pulsed with a faint white light. What the light was seemed obvious but why Vlad was fighting the evolution was not.

A high-pitched howl echoed across the side of the volcano. This one wasn't from Vlad.

"Vlad!" David cried as he dropped down next to the pokemon. "It's ok if you want to evolve! You don't have to wait for me to tell you if you want to evolve!"

"War! War tortle!" Vlad shook its head vigorously. It was clear that the pokemon did not want to evolve.

I whirled around as another high-pitched howl echoed down the mountainside. At first I saw nothing. Then Dylan called out and pointed. Standing on an outcropping probably a hundred yards up and to our left was a silhouette. Four legs held the beast aloft. A flowing mane trailed from its head and two thin tails moved in the wind like flowing tails.

"That's different than the one we saw in New Orleans," I observed.

Dylan glanced at me. "I hadn't even thought of that." He looked back at the struggling wartortle. "You think they're connected? Even though they aren't the same creature I mean."

Behind us, I looked back to see that Vlad was back on both feet. its hands and eyes were clenched shut. "Maybe. That other one showed up and your electabuzz evolved. Could this one be trying to do the same to David's pokemon?"

The creature arched its back and we heard the howl again. As the sound rolled down the side of the volcano, the falling snow disappeared along with it. With a sudden bound off the ledge the creature disappeared from our view. Just as suddenly, Vlad was released from the grip of the evolutionary light. The water pokemon heaved a sigh of relief. David quickly got it back into its poke ball.

"The hell was that?" he asked, walking over to where we were standing and trying to see what we had been looking at.

Dylan filled him in on what we had seen and then added, "We'd better get moving. That thing might come back."

I retreated to my log seat for my backpack and then hurried after my friends.

As the climb continued, my thoughts drifted from what had just happened to the battle that was yet to come. I began to plan out what pokemon I would use. Three of my stronger pokemon in Grovyle, Steelix and Heracross would have to be unavailable for this battle because of their type weaknesses. The only sure entrants I had were Marshtomp, Corphish and Sandslash. If I was allowed more than four pokemon I had several choices to consider. None of my options had a type advantage over fire but possibly over a pokemon's secondary typing. They also had no resistance like my water pokemon with the exception of Charmeleon. Charmeleon would be a bit of a defensive wall if I wanted it to be which could be an interesting tactic. As the lip of the volcano came into view, I tucked that thought away for later.

When we looked over the edge and into the volcano's cauldron, I felt my jaw drop. A stone road who's base was covered in lava lead down from where our path ended into the mouth of the volcano. A massive, round-ish brownish stone spire probably fifty yards in diameter stood in the very center some twenty feet above the roiling magma. Smaller pillars dotted the rest of the sea of lava, the biggest not more than four or five feet in diameter. Another stone road lead back up the other side of the volcano.

We would literally be battling in Hell.

_The man sat alone in the back of his limousine. He ignored all the creature comforts it offered, staying focused solely on the cellular phone in his hand. He stared at it for a handful of minutes before it finally began to vibrate._

_He held the phone to his mouth. "Report."_

"_Excavation is complete. All forces are being rerouted to our position now."_

_The man nodded and smiled to himself. "I suspected as much. Hopefully the weather will not delay them. And the stones?"_

"_As far as we can tell, those storms are exactly what's supposed to happen with this much potential energy unearthed. I wouldn't fly in but it shouldn't bother cars." The caller paused as if unsure if he wanted to relay this news. "After we lost the stones in New Orleans, the trail went cold. It wasn't until we activated the creatures were we able to locate them."_

_The man bolted upright. "The creatures have been activated? Without my authority?"_

_The caller hesitated again. "Our scientists said they were one-hundred percent cleared. Ariana was on hand and made the decision."_

_The man was silent and then let out a little huff. "It would seem Ariana has overstepped the bounds of her authority. No matter if it brings us the stones. What were the exact orders given?"_

_A shuffling of papers could be heard. "Ah, here it is. Recover all stones and capture the three trainers. Return them all to the site."_

"_Interesting," the man said with a chuckle. "She must still be stinging from the Pallet Town debacle. Where are the creatures now?"_

"_Let's see here…" Keystrokes could be heard. "They are crossing into Oregon. Making remarkable time really. If they keep this pace up they should complete their objectives and make contact with the team en route within twelve hours."_

"_Excellent. Keep me informed."_

_The man ended the call and leaned back in his seat. He reached out a hand and scratched behind the ear of the persian that sat next to him._

"_Soon," he muttered. "Soon."_


	42. Chapter 42

We made our way down the rock road which was actually wider than it had first looked. The three of us were able to walk shoulder to shoulder at the widest point. A thin metal handrail had also been installed on either side to assist trainers who had issues with heights or more likely, were extremely klutzy. The road was a lot longer than it had looked from the top. About halfway down I could see that there was actually a person waiting on the big pedestal the road was taking us to. When we got closer I could see that he was sitting cross-legged in the center and surprisingly, wearing only an open vest instead of a heavy coat like my friends and I wore.

"First of the morning," the man said in a low, gravely voice when we approached him. "About time."

There was a pause as we waited for him to say more. Usually right about now was when there was some banter or some kind of lecture. Instead, he stood and ran a big hand over his clean-shaven scalp and said, "Well?"

"Well what?" Dylan asked.

"Are you here to battle me or not?" Now that he was standing, it was clear that he was in very good shape despite being probably in his forties. He fixed his cold, gray eyes on me. "Well?"

"Damn straight we are!" I burst out, taking a step forward.

The Gym Leader nodded. "That's better. You and I shall battle four-on-four. You may substitute pokemon whenever you please. I cannot substitute. My team is predetermined. You may choose yours as the battle progresses. However, once a pokemon has entered the battle, it must remain on your team. Whoever knocks out all their opponents pokemon will be declared the winner."

David looked around. "There's no ref."

"We've operated on the honor system since the ref, who is also my wife, became pregnant five months ago," the Gym Leader sniffed. "It's worked pretty well so far. If you'd really like, you can go up the other path to the cabin back there and drag a five-month pregnant woman down here to referee."

The guy was kind of an asshole, but it was at least something different.

"I'm good," David said.

"Very well. This battle is between the Gym Leader Slate and the Challenger… what's your name?" I told him. "Very well. The Challenger Tim! Go stand by the road you came down. That's your area."

He spun on his heels and headed for his area which I had to guess was by the other road. Dylan and David hesitated for a moment and then followed after me. It took me a second to realize it but other than the time we had battled as a team, we had never been present to watch someone battle without having first battled ourselves. If I had known that was an option, I wouldn't have gone first.

I toyed around with my poke balls for a moment, trying to determine my team. I would lead with Corphish, that was for certain. Marshtomp and Sandslash were locks. The final spot I just left undecided with Charmeleon, Staraptor and Gengar all left on my belt as options.

"One word of advice," Slate called to me as he plucked a poke ball from a holster apparently concealed at the small of his back. "Ground pokemon are not outlawed here, but I would advise against them, particularly if they dig."

"Why's that?" I called back, trying to conceal my worry.

Slate waved his empty hand around. "We're in a volcano. The landmass we stand on is not solid. Not too far below the surface we stand on is more magma. Probably not more than thirty."

I tried not to look visibly relieved. Thirty feet wouldn't be a problem for Sandslash. If I had been planning on using Steelix, it would have been. "Thanks for the heads up."

"My pleasure. Now, we begin! Houndoom, go!"

It was a pokemon that I was very familiar with and I hoped that might tilt the scales in my favor a little. After battling against a houndoom at least four times, I felt like I knew what they could do pretty well. It would be a good chance to get reacquainted with Corphish anyway.

"Let's get this started off right!" I announced. "Bubblebeam!"

"Dark pulse!"

The glowing bubbles and swirling darkness slammed into each other. The pulse began to push its way forward, sending bubbles flying everywhere. The dark pulse dug it's way through the storm of bubbles until Corphish was forced to scuttle out of the way. Not exactly the start I had been hoping for.

Houndoom cut off Corphish's escape with a well placed flamethrower. The crab pokemon skittered to a halt and took off in the opposite direction. Another flamethrower cut across it's path.

"Corphish, metal claw!" Corphish's left claw began to glow with a silver light as it launched itself at Houndoom.

"Foolish." The contempt in Slate's voice was clear. "Block it with fire fang!"

Corphish swung up with its attack. Houndoom bit down and caught the metal claw in it's jaws. I could see the muscles flex as they applied pressure. Flames flickered between the long teeth as combustion grew near.

"Perfect," I said with a grin. "Crabhammer!"

A light blue glow overtook Corphish's right claw. It swung this claw up and smashed it across Houndoom's face. The jaws instantly released and fire died. The fire pokemon staggered away, clearly affected by the water-type move. Corphish, now freed, backtracked to put some room between them.

"Good work Corphish! Now us bubble beam again!"

Still slightly dazed, Houndoom was slow in reacting to its trainer's command. The shimmering bubbles slammed into it and knocked it aside. The bigger pokemon stumbled and then leapt gracefully out of the path of the attack. I was just about to order another round of bubble beam when Houndoom blasted my pokemon off its feet with a well placed dark pulse.

"Now Houndoom! Giga impact!"

Houndoom began charging towards Corphish. An orb of purple energy flashed into existence, surrounding Houndoom, with swirling yellow energy streaming off the front. I knew from experience this would probably end poorly.

"Block it with bubble beam!" I shouted.

The glowing bubbles pounded into the charging dark-type pokemon and didn't even slow it down. I was about to give another command when Houndoom put on a burst of speed. It slammed into Corphish and the ensuing explosion swallowed up my words. Houndoom waited patiently as it rebuilt its energy. A charred Corphish pushed itself up with it's massive claws.

"Cor. Cor phish," it panted.

"Hit it while it's paralyzed!" I yelled. "Crabhammer!"

Corphish had all but closed the gap when Houndoom regained its ability to move again. It wasn't soon enough. A thunderous right hook of a crabhammer took Houndoom right off its feet. It bounced once and then rolled back up to its feet. I sneered at it. Two direct water attacks and it was still fresh as could be.

"It's time to finish this one off." Slate pointed at Corphish. "Giga impact!"

"Wait for it," I said as Houndoom began to charge.

The purple orb formed.

"Wait for it…"

Corphish peeked over its shoulder at me.

"Wait for it…"

Houndoom put on its last burst of speed.

"Now! Protect!"

Corphish's eyes flared as a translucent green orb formed out of the air, completely encompassing it. Houndoom had been moving too fast by that point. It slammed into the shield and bounced right back off it. The energy it had built up quickly dissipated and it struggled to reorient itself.

I held up a poke ball. "Corphish, return! Marshtomp, take over!"

Behind me, I could sense David and Dylan's surprise that I didn't press that attack. The thought had occurred to me but it had also stuck me that if it had been countered, Corphish would have probably been out of the fight. Marshtomp gave me fresh energy to work with.

"Well played," Slate growled. "Houndoom, dark pulse!"

My mind flashed. Water gun wouldn't be powerful enough to stop a dark pulse if bubble beam hadn't been. "Ice beam!"

When the two attacks slammed into each other, they did something unusual. Jets of black lightning began sprouting out from the nexus of impact. Where they landed, glittering black ice crystals spouted despite the heat. They just sat there, not melting or anything. Even I was beginning to melt and shrugged out of my heavy coat. My eyes found Slate's. A shared look of confusion went between us. Then it vanished.

"Use flamethrower on that ice!" he roared.

The intense influx of heat had an effect on the black ice: it exploded, sending needle sized icicles ripping across my pokemon. I wasn't sure if that attack was now ice based or dark based but either way, it seemed to be hurting Marshtomp.

"Shake it off Marshtomp!" I shouted and paused long enough for the pokemon to regain its bearings. "Mud bomb!"

Three brown balls of mud slammed into Houndoom before it countered with a dark pulse. Despite the wide range of the barrage of mud, the dark pulse began forcing the attack back. I grimaced. Clearly we weren't going to win this battle with power so hopefully I could win with creativity.

"Now use water gun!"

What I had meant was for Marshtomp to cease using mud bomb and fire a pinpoint water gun that would strike Houndoom down. What Marshtomp did was try to use water gun while it kept up using mud bomb. Bits of water shot out with the blasts of mud until there was too much going on and Marshtomp's mouth got clogged up with mud and water.

"Amateur!" Slate laughed as his houndoom's dark pulse was now unimpeded.

"Marshtomp!" I yelled.

The water pokemon trembled for just a moment and I mistook it for terror. It was actually from the buildup of pressure.

A brown wave of water erupted out of Marshtomp's mouth. It continued to grow as it swept over the dark pulse. Houndoom was picked up by the growing wave, heaved into the air and then smashed down to the ground.

"What the hell was that?" Dylan called.

"I don't know!" I responded.

"I think you just inadvertently learned Muddy Water!" David was laughing. "You've got to be kidding me!"

"Of all the lucky things to happen…" Slate was muttering as he recalled his pokemon. Given that he wasn't allowed to switch pokemon, I realized that I had defeated his houndoom. I was tempted to quip that it wasn't luck but skill… but I knew that it had been mostly luck.

"I'll give you points for effort though," Slate was still grumbling when he hurled another poke ball out. "Magcargo!"

I dug my pokedex out quickly despite being pretty sure I knew enough about the magcargo. I mean, it's basically living lava with a shell on its back. What more did I need to know? Turns out I had forgotten about the secondary typing of rock that it had. That gave me a few more options.

"Marshtomp, return!" Marshtomp would be super-effective against almost all fire pokemon so I decided to save it for later. "Sandslash, let's go!"

Magcargo didn't really seem to care either way. It just blinked its big yellow eyes at Sandslash.

Slate started us off. "Magcargo, heat wave!"

Magcargo opened its mouth where an orange ball had formed. It breathed heavily and a sharp wind from deep within its body blew waves at fire at Sandslash.

"Dig!" Sandslash disappeared underground and I hoped not too far underground, remembering the advice I'd been given about the lava.

A smirk formed out of Slate's mouth. "Amateur. Earthquake!"

Magcargo bounced into the air. Slamming down, it sent a powerful shockwave through the ground. Once the shockwave hit Sandslash it hurled the ground pokemon back above ground. Sandslash slowly rolled back to its feet.

"Really? I mean really?" Slate was chiding me. He really was in a bad mood today. "You don't think I'm prepared for that? Doubly weak against ground moves and you think I'm not prepared? How did you even get this far?"

I spat on the ground. "Talk is cheap. Focus blast!"

Sandslash wasn't far away from Magcargo and more importantly, it was much faster. The glowing blue orb was formed and thrown before the fire pokemon even began to lurch out of the way. I saw chunks of the hardened magma shell fly off as it disappeared in the explosion.

I decided a quick follow up was best. "Rollout!"

"Stone edge!"

The smoke from the explosion was whisked away by two lines blue orbs that were spinning an orbit around Magcargo. They quickly formed into long, sharp stones. The stones stopped abruptly in their orbit and all shot right at Sandslash. Sandslash veered sharply off course and managed to avoid about half the stones.

"Earthquake!" Slate yelled.

As Magcargo jumped up and was coming down, I shouted, "Bounce!"

Still spinning for rollout, Sandslash bounced slightly to a small rock and then launched itself into the air. The earthquake passed harmlessly underneath. Adjusting in midair, Sandslash came crashing down on Magcargo. My pokemon rolled away and then bounced into the air for another strike.

Slate threw a hand out. "Protect!"

It was like Sandslash ran into a brick wall. A glowing, translucent green brick wall. It shook its head to try and regain its composure.

"Back away," I ordered, thinking quickly. Sandslash took a few quick hops back to widen the distance between opponents.

Slate seemed content to merely let me implement whatever inferior strategy I was coming up with. Problem was, I didn't have one yet. Dig was my best shot at knocking Magcargo out but I couldn't use it because of Earthquake. Everything else could be neutralized by using Protect. I'd already done some decent damage. If I could get in one dig, it might be over. Suddenly, I got an idea.

"Sandslash, use focus blast!" Once the focus blast had been thrown, I shouted, "Now use dig!"

I smiled as Sandslash dove back underground. Slate might be able to stop one of my attacks but not both. He could stop the focus blast with Protect but be open to my second attack. Or he could stop the second with his ground-type move but then take the focus blast unimpeded.

"Stone edge and then use earthquake!"

Or he could do that.

The stones formed quickly and shot out at the focus blast as Magcargo bounded up for its next attack. The rock and fighting move detonated one another, rendering them both harmless. Sandslash must've heard something because it came rocketing out of the ground before Magcargo slammed down. Being above ground the tremors only did slight damage to my pokemon.

"That's a better effort," Slate said. "Not enough though. Heat wave!"

"Screw this," I snarled. "Rollout right around it!"

It became clear that even though Sandslash wasn't a super speedy pokemon, it sorely outclassed Magcargo in that department. The fire pokemon swept its attack across the field but Sandslash stayed ahead of it until it made its final turn and plowed into the magcargo. The impact threw the two pokemon apart.

"Focus blast!" I yelled. "Focus blast!"

Magcargo blew apart the focus blast with a stone edge. The first one anyway. It had sounded like I was emphasizing the use of focus blast when I was actually ordering for two of them to be used.

"Sandslash, return" I ordered when the pokemon had landed. "Corphish, finish it up!"

"Stone edge!"

"Protect!"

The stones shattered against Corphish's protective shield.

"Bubble beam!"

"Protect!"

Corphish's glowing bubbles detonated harmlessly against Magcargo's shield. It had suddenly become a slugging match between two defensive pokemon. It was not going to be fun to watch. Or maybe, judging from Dylan and David's hoots and hollering, it was.

"Ok, let's try this then," I said, throwing out an open hand. "Bubble beam! Spray the whole field!"

Slate hesitated for a moment like I'd hope he would. He could summon his protective shield but that would only be temporary. With the bubbles continuing to rain down, his pokemon would eventually fall victim to my attack

"Heat wave!" he ordered. "Blast that bubble beam away!"

Exactly as I'd hoped.

The fiery wave swept through the glowing bubbles. The two attacks combusted into a robust cloud of steam.

"Get down!" I yelled at Corphish. It flattened itself to the ground. "Get down!"

The pokemon looked back at me, confused. It then saw that I was pointing at one of the holes that Sandslash had dug. The light bulb went off and Corphish dropped into the hole. Just two seconds later a hail of stones ripped past where Corphish had been. I made no move as the steam dissipated.

"Magcargo! Use…" Slate trailed off as he realized my pokemon was no where to be seen. He blinked once and then turned his head from side to side to make sure he wasn't crazy. "Find it! Find that corphish!"

Magcargo began to slither its way forward in an attempt to find Corphish. I panicked for a moment as I wondered if Magcargo's last earthquake had closed up the tunnel that Sandslash had dug. There was no way to know for sure until Corphish emerged.

I drew in a breath to yell a command as Magcargo neared the hole I was pretty sure Corphish was about to emerge.

Slate saw me do it. "Get away from that hole!"

"Too late!" I yelled. "Corphish, hammer time with crabhammer!"

I'd guessed right. Corphish launched itself out of the hole nearest to Magcargo. It slammed its left claw down on Magcargo's head as the fire pokemon was too slow to escape. Corphish swung the other claw up in an uppercut that separated Magcargo from the ground. The second hit was an incredibly powerful blow but it didn't look like even that was going to be enough.

"Finish it with bubble beam!"

The shimmering bubbles pounded into the airborne pokemon. Magcargo was at Corphish's mercy until it finally slid off the onslaught of bubbles and crashed to the ground. Corphish lowered its claws to adjust its aim but didn't attack. Slate begrudgingly pulled out a poke ball and recalled Magcargo.

"Better," he admitted. "Hiding in the hole was a nice trick. It won't save you twice."

"Hey, I'm not one-trick ponyta."

Slate just rolled his eyes. "Time to see what you've really got. It doesn't get any easier." He threw a new poke ball. "Magmortar, it's time!"

Magmortar towered ominously over Corphish. The colors of fire swirled around its egg shaped body and turned into real flames on its shoulders, tail and head. It had long arms with three claws at the end that I knew could draw back in to form cannons. Sheer power was exuded by the pokemon as it stood there, flames swaying.

"Magmortar, lava plume!"

I didn't see clearly what happened but a roiled explosion burst forth from where Magmortar was standing. Black smoke and fire swirled together and began wafting across our battlefield. I lost sight of my opponent and his pokemon all together. The fire pokemon could be anywhere but I was willing to bet it was in that plume somewhere.

"Bubble beam!" I ordered. "Arc it over and into that lava plume. Figure out where that magmortar is!"

Glowing bubbles rained down into lava plume as it continued its trek across the field. At first I only heard the bubbles exploding against the ground. Then there was the telltale sound of a grunting pokemon. I yelled for Corphish to intensify its attack. It had to continually adjust its aim but it rained down watery destruction upon Magmortar.

Then I realized something. "Protect, Corphish! Use it now!"

Corphish threw up its green shield milliseconds before the fire cloud would've rolled over it. The water pokemons head jerked from side to side as it watched the smoke and fire continue to build around it.

"Fire blast!"

A great pillar of fire blasted out of the lava plume. It was split apart at the front into five prongs that trailed slight behind which reminded me briefly of a Japanese symbol. The main pillar slammed into Corphish. The prongs snapped around and encompassed Corphish before detonating in an explosion greater than anything I had witnessed yet. Somehow Corphish had managed to keep its shield up although it appeared to be wavering inside.

"Sunny day!" I heard Slate shout.

From within the lava plume, I saw a beam of white light shoot into the sky. The few clouds that had been present instantly vanished. Even in the cauldron of a volcano I could still feel the heat pick up. The violence of the raging lava plume intensified.

I could see the strain on my pokemons face. Protect wouldn't last forever. Corphish made it almost a full minute before the translucent shield finally vanished.

"Thunderbolt."

A blast of lightning ripped through the cloud, blowing much of it apart. It slammed into Corphish, trapping the pokemon in its electrical grip for only a few moments before my pokemon slumped to the ground.

"Shit," I mumbled and then after I had recalled Corphish, "Good work. You battled really well."

Magmortar stood in the remains of the rapidly dissipating lava plume. Despite having taken a number of direct hits from bubble beam, I could see a scratch. Now with Sunny Day in effect I was in a bit of an interesting spot. Fire attacks were now more powerful and water attacks were less so. Only my remaining water pokemon was resistant to fire but now Marshtomp's attacks were mostly neutered. Ice beam was already less effective and now Muddy Water would lose its extra effectiveness boost. I'd have to stick it out with Sandslash as long as I could.

"Sandslash, take over!"

I could now see the smirk on Slate's face. "I thought so. Lava plume!"

The Gym Leader and his pokemon disappeared behind the fiery cloud again.

"Rollout!" I called and as Sandslash closed in, I added, "Make a loop around that lava plume!"

As the rolling pokemon raced around the edge of the cloud, its momentum carried the smoke in the direction it was going. The whole lava plume began to turn as Sandslash made another lap and then another.

"Now tighten up the circles!" I yelled.

I caught a brief glimpse of a surprised look on Slate's face as the plume continued to shrink and tighten into a swaying pillar of smoke and fire with Magmortar trapped at the center of it.

Good. Take that, jackass.

"Double focus blast!"

Sandslash came flying out of its roll like an action hero. Forming a focus blast in each claw, it hurled one at the ground and the other a few feet into the air. The lower one didn't hit a pokemon but the explosion did sever the whirling fire tornado from the ground and let it break apart harmlessly. The second slammed into Magmortar, who had jumped to try and avoid the first focus blast. I didn't see where it took the blast but it landed awkwardly and wasn't in full control of its body. Other than being off balance, it looked no worse for ware.

A phrase came to mind. It was something I'd heard or read when learning about the Special Forces in the military. "Overwhelming violence of action." It was what was going to be needed to take down this magmortar.

A plan formed quickly. "Sandslash, use rollout!"

Magmortar had just regained its balance when Sandslash slammed into the pokemons chest. The fire pokemon took a step back before swatting Sandslash away with a thick arm.

"Fire blast!"

"Use dig!"

Flying through the air from Magmortar's swat, Sandslash turned it into a dive and disappeared into the ground like a warm knife going through butter before its opponent could attack. No one moved, not me nor Slate nor Magmortar. Other than the sound of churning magma, there was silence. A small crack could be heard and a visible one appeared a foot behind Magmortar.

"Behind you!" Slate roared.

Sandslash erupted from the ground not from behind, but from the side. As Magmortar was turning to where it thought my pokemon was going to emerge it caught a big pile of Sandslash to the face.

"Slash!"

The two sets of claws glowed, extended and both swiped over Magmortar.

"Focus blast!"

Still in the air, Sandslash raised its claws up to form the glowing orb and then smashed it down on to Magmortar's head. The explosion threw the two apart.

"Rollout!"

As soon as it touched the ground, Sandslash was spinning back towards the staggering fire pokemon. It slammed into it once, bounced off and slammed back into it again. A fire blast that just barely missed discouraged a third rollout strike.

"Focus blast!"

The explosion shoved Magmortar back, its feet leaving deep groves in the ground. I was about to shout another order when something changed. It was like a weight had been lifted off me. My eyes trailed up into the sky where clouds had reformed. The intense sunlight was gone.

I jabbed out a hand with a poke ball. "Sandslash, return! Marshtomp, go!"

The momentum of the match was with me, I was almost certain of it. If I could just keep up my onslaught I could take down this pokemon with ease and Slate'd be down to just one. Victory was close.

"Muddy water!" I yelled, pointing at Magmortar who was finally showing some signs of fatigue.

Marshtomp blasted the torrent of dirty water at the ground and from the impact point rose a great wave that loomed over Magmortar. I could almost taste the victory.

Fire blasted straight through the wave.

The rocket of fire slammed into Marshtomp and the trailing prongs swung around to close in on my pokemon as the fire blast exploded. I lost sight of the muddy wave as Marshtomp was hurled through the air.

"Marshtomp!" I called. "Marshtomp, are you ok?"

The pokemon muttered something as it picked itself up on shaky limbs. Its blue flesh was covered in deep burns. I looked back over at Magmortar. There was no way that a fire attack should've been able to plow straight through my water attack like that. My only consolation was that the big wave had apparently found its mark. The fire pokemon looked unsteady on its feet. The flames on its shoulders and head flickered dangerously low.

I looked down at my pokemon. It had been hurt pretty bad by that last attack but if I could finish off Magmortar, I could get Sandslash back out to battle whatever came next.

"Mud bomb!"

Slate's response surprised me: "Sunny day!"

Magmortar offered no resistance as ground-type attack plowed into it. It had already fired its beam into the sky. As the big fire pokemon toppled over I could feel the sunshine intensify.

"Not bad," Slate conceded, a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Not bad at all. No one's made it this far in a while. Unfortunately it only gets tougher. Infernape, go!"

I had been trying to guess what Slate's final pokemon would be and I had been wrong. Infernape stood slightly bent over, covered in red fur except for its chest and lower legs. Golden swirls decorated its chest, shoulders and fists. A fire and fighting pokemon, it was one not to be taken lightly.

"You're done for now Marshtomp," I said as I recalled the pokemon. "Come on back Sandslash!" There was a pause and then I shouted, "Dig!"

"Solar beam!"

Infernape cupped its hands back by its side and instantly thrust them back forward with palms out, fingers curled and wrists touching. A brilliant white beam shot out from Infernape's hands. It blew apart the section of ground that Sandslash had recently occupied. As far as I could tell, my pokemon had avoided any damage underground.

Something clicked in my mind as I realized I had seen this strategy before. With the intense sunlight, a solar beam could be fired instantaneously instead of waiting for energy to gather. I was now very glad I had switched away from Marshtomp.

Sandslash burst out of the ground. Infernape had amazing reaction times and managed to turn away from the brunt of the attack.

"Close combat!"

Infernape whirled around on Sandslash and launched a flurry of punches before sending it sailing through the air with a vicious kick.

"Flamethrower!"

Still in midair, the huge blast of fire slammed into Sandslash. The ground pokemon rode the attack for a few seconds before slipping off the found of it. My pokemon was now in a freefall.

Off the side of the battling platform, over open magma.

"Sandslash!" I screamed as I ran for the edge. "Sandslash!"

Slate seemed to realize what had happened. "Go after it Infernape!"

Sandslash, however, had the situation under control. It stretched out its body and turned itself into a living dart. The arc it was falling at was just enough that it slammed into the side of the volcano. It dug a claw deep into the rock wall as it slid to a stop some two dozen feet above the churning magma. Quickly, Sandslash dug its other claws in and began to climb back up. Infernape had leapt across the smaller pillars until it was on the one closest to Sandslash. It called something down and apparently got a reply back because the fire pokemon gave us a thumbs up.

Slate, who was also standing on the edge of our platform, looked over at me, "Battle on?"

I took a moment to wipe the sweat from my face. "Sure. Although I feel like I give you a chance to get Infernape out of there since you did try to help my pokemon and all. Seems fair."

The Gym Leader looked at me incredulously. "What? No! Infernape has the

high ground. If anything, I should be offering you that deal."

"Fair enough," I said with a shrug. I cupped my hands around my mouth for added effect. "Sandslash, use focus blast!"

Sandslash pulled one claw out of the wall long enough to hurl a glowing blue orb at the base of the pillar Infernape was standing on. The rock was only a few feet thick and blew apart easily. Infernape bounded off the rock as it plummeted into the sea of magma. Sandslash hurled another focus blast, this time at Infernape. The fire pokemon dove away. Sandslash dove for the nearest pillar and scrambled to towards the top as Infernape returned fire with a flamethrower. My pokemon dug right down into the pillar and shot out the side. It hurled another focus blast before leaping from pillar to pillar in rapid succession as a solar beam disintegrated a large number of them.

Somehow Sandslash reached our plateau before its opponent so I shouted, "Rollout!" If I could open up the same kind of barrage I had on Magmortar, things could hopefully be ended quickly.

It was not to be.

"Flare blitz!" Slate roared.

Infernape swung its head around, the flame on top swirling around its body. It launched at Sandslash as the fire encompassed its whole body. Infernape had become a living missile. It plowed straight through a spinning Sandslash without slowing down. Sandslash crashed in a heap while Infernape landed gracefully, red sparkles playing about its body. I saw the pokemon wince and knew instantly that flare blitz was not an attack to use recklessly.

"Sandslash, how you doing there?" I called. I got a soft buzzing reply as the ground pokemon slowly got back up.

"Solar beam!" Slate yelled, interrupting my nice chat with Sandslash.

"Get underground!" I shouted, waving my hands wildly.

The sunshine was beginning to fade but Infernape still fired its solar beam with no wait time at all. Sandslash vanished underground as the solar beam marked the field with a deep gouge before detonating against the far wall.

Slate searched the ground for signs of Sandslash. "Get ready with close com-"

Sandslash interrupted by exploding out of the ground right between Infernape's feet. Claws extended toward the sky, it drove into Infernape causing the fire pokemons head to snap back. Gravity took hold and Sandslash dropped back into the ground.

"Enough of this hide-and-seek!" Slate was pretty pissed now. I'd been using the same tactic consistently and usually with success. "Close combat on the ground!"

Infernape threw four quick punches and then two more, forming a wide circle. It was about to punch again when Sandslash rocketed out of the ground. The ground pokemon drove a shoulder into Infernape's chest and then reared back to perform the slash I had called for. Infernape met the slash with a punch, defecting one slash and then the second.

Then it laid into my pokemon.

Viscous right and left jabs, followed by a huge uppercut. Infernape leapt into the sky and swung a foot around in a back heel kick that sent Sandslash crashing back into the ground. Sandslash bounced off the hard rock and Infernape dropped on top of it with a heavy knee.

It was over. There was no doubt.

Deep down inside, as I recalled a prone Sandslash, I was surprised that the ground pokemon had lasted as long as it had. I had battled with it before but this was by far Sandslash's most enduring test. Pride welled up in me as I realized how my pokemon had risen up to the challenge. It had truly been a coming out party for Sandslash as a battler. I wished Heracross, who had taught it so long ago, had been able to watch.

"Ok Marshtomp, back to the grind!"

Although its stay in the ball hadn't been lengthy, Marshtomp looked a bit fresher. It still sported burns and charring but it looked much steadier on its feet. I held out hope that I might not have to decide on a fourth pokemon yet.

"Infernape, solar beam!"

I got ready to yell for Marshtomp to dodge when I realized the sun had completely faded. I wasn't sure if Slate hadn't realized or just didn't care but either way, I had a few seconds to act as white energy built up in Infernape's pulled back hands.

"Use ice beam!" I shouted to the surprise of everyone there. "Aim for Infernape's feet!"

Huge blocks of ice quickly formed on Infernape's feet. At first everyone clearly thought I was an idiot. Then when the fire pokemon tried to turn to fire its attack, I became a genius. Even though it was melting quickly, the ice had bonded Infernape to the ground.

"Start circling!" I yelled. "And use mud bomb!"

Shuffling its feet, Marshtomp back circling its immobilized opponent and pelting it with mud bombs. It worked briefly. Infernape ripped a foot free enough to pivot and unleashed its solar beam. Marshtomp avoided the beam itself but not the explosion which threw it across the field. I wondered momentarily if that had been the best use of my time.

"Muddy water!"

This time Marshtomp fired a solid blast of water right at Infernape. It was stopped cold by a flamethrower. Then the flamethrower completely overwhelmed the dirty water and slammed into Marshtomp. I was completely flabbergasted as Marshtomp picked itself back up. I didn't understand how these fire attacks kept overwhelming my water attacks, especially without the boost of Sunny Day. Ice beam being overwhelmed I could've understood but not muddy water.

"Finish it off!" Slate ordered. "Flare blitz!"

"Mud bomb!" I countered.

I was pretty sure that the real power of flare blitz was in the impact so all the mud bombs pounding into Infernape should have been causing damage. Not as much damage as flare blitz did when Infernape ripped through Marshtomp though. Standing over Marshtomp, red sparks crackled over Infernape. I briefly wondered if the recoil from flare blitz was doing more damage than me.

"Is it over?" Slate called to his pokemon, who bent down over mine to find out.

Marshtomp rolled over and gave Infernape muddy water right in the chops. The impact was enough to throw the fire pokemon head over heels backwards. I was certain that one had done damage. Marshtomp slowly sat up. A shimmering aqua energy was swirling around it.

"Well I'll be damned," I breathed, taking a step back. "Torrent."

Slate clearly knew what was happening too. "Flamethrower!"

"Muddy water again!"

I snarled as the flamethrower held my pokemons attack at bay. It didn't overpower it but it was able to equal it. It just didn't make sense.

"Now close combat!"

Infernape sidestepped the blast of muddy water and came charging in, fist cocked back. What it didn't expect was Marshtomp adjusting its aim and turning the muddy water into a wave. Infernape did a quick one-eighty and raced for the safety of the edge. It flew off and landed on a pillar as the wave crashed down to the magma below.

"Son of a bitch," I sighed with a bob of my head.

I stared angrily at Infernape. It stared back at me. The flames on its head crackled and grew bigger briefly and then shrunk back down a little as it returned to the main platform. What the hell had that been? Had that happened before? I tried to remember but quickly got distracted by a charging fire pokemon.

"Mud bomb!" I roared, getting tired of Infernape defeating my water attacks.

Infernape charged right through the attack, like the balls of mud pounding into its chest weren't even affecting it. Two hooks and a roundhouse kick were all it took. As I recalled Marshtomp, I could at least take satisfaction in that Infernape was at least breathing hard now.

I stared at the fire pokemon as I contemplated my final pokemon. The way its flames had increased still gnawed at me. I felt like there was something significant about it. It might hold the key to how Slate could dispatch my water attacks so easily. Come to think of it, none of my water attacks had seemed overwhelmingly powerful against the fire pokemon like I thought they should've.

A burning sensation weighed on my chest. It turned out not to be a sensation at all but the small fire stone that had been turned into a pendant. I pulled it out and let it fall against my shirt. It glowed with a soft orange light. I looked down at it.

My head shot up. "Son of a bitch. That's how, isn't it?" I gestured around the volcano with my eyes. "Isn't it?"

A small smile played across Slate's lips. I couldn't tell if it was amusement or pride or something else all together.

It all made sense now. Water pokemon were stronger when battling in the rain or in actual water. Grass pokemon held the advantage when in the grass. Why shouldn't it be the same way with fire pokemon? The intense heat of the volcano and the sheer natural power of it were like a constantly running Sunny Day. Water attacks were diminished and fire attacks enhanced. Now it made sense why Sandslash seemed to do so much more damage than Marshtomp.

A small tremor gave me pause. I saw magma fly into the air as a bubble of it popped. The energy in the volcano was building. My pendant got hotter. It was all clear to me now.

"I understand it all now," I announced. "The truth is in my grasp. So is victory."

Slate's reply was to raise an eyebrow skeptically. It had sounded a lot better in my head, honestly.

"Behold!" I held a poke ball aloft. It'd hadn't been a hard choice, it was the only choice I'd ever had. "Behold the rage of the Inferno, Charmeleon!"

As soon as Charmeleon was fully formed on the battlefield, its tail flame pulsed. It was much bigger than usual. I doubt anyone that didn't know the pokemon as well as I did would've even noticed.

The look on Slate's face told me that I really had figured it out. "You've still got your work cut out for you," he warned. "This won't make it any easier."

"Flamethrower!" We both yelled.

The two rivers of fire slammed into each other. They fought viciously, each pushing the other back only to be shoved back again. Quickly the energy became too much and they exploded up to the sky. Infernape might've started out stronger than Charmeleon, but all its battling had evened out their power levels.

"Dragon rage!" I ordered.

"Close combat!"

Infernape deftly slipped around the dragon rage and close the distance between it and my pokemon quickly. Charmeleon was able to dodge the first few strikes but then began to get pummeled.

"Fire fang!"

Charmeleon opened its jaws and snapped them closed around a punch that had been aimed at its snout. Infernape looked shocked. The edges of Charmeleon's mouth pulled back in a fiery grin. The explosion separated the two pokemon. Infernape staggered back a few paces and then glared at Charmeleon.

"Infernape!" it shouted as the flame on its head grew.

"Charmeleon!" Charmeleon's tail flame responded in kind.

Both flames were now flickering wildly. Infernape's trailed behind it like a deadly streamer. Charmeleon's was massive, occasionally shooting out random gouts. Neither pokemon looked ready to give an inch. They exchanged calls again.

A roar responded.

The sound echoed down into the volcano. It bounced around the rocks and had almost faded when another one sounded. I searched frantically for the source of the roar.

"There!" David yelled and pointed up onto the lip of the volcano.

It was far enough away that there wasn't much to see. A bulky figure cloaked in shadows that still somehow looked somewhat familiar stood almost on the pathway that Slate would've taken down into the volcano. It roared again. This time the volcano responded by belching up some lava that was now churning heavily.

Slate didn't even turn to look at it. He cringed slightly every time the beast roared but he never looked. It was almost like he had known it was around.

"Infernape!" Infernape yelled at Charmeleon, getting back to the battle.

"Charmeleon!" Charmeleon's flames grew bigger.

"INFERNAPE!"

"CHARME-" the word disappeared into a roar. A roar that had emanated from my pokemon. It let loose another roar, unlike any noise it had made before. The fire on its tail was now out of control and flowing over its whole body. Once Charmeleon had disappeared completely into the fire, it flashed and turned into that sweet, sweet white light of evolution.

Charmeleon's body, legs and tail all swelled and grew. Its arms became longer with more pronounced claws. A new, long neck propelled the horned head into the sky. Finally, two majestic wings burst from its back. The white light faded leaving just the warm orange skin of my pokemon.

Charizard.

I made a quick check of the top of the volcano and just like before, the beast had vanished after evolution. Clearly it had been related to the beasts that had triggered an evolution in Dylan's and at least tried to in David's pokemon.

"Now then," I said, cracking my knuckles. "Now the real fun begins."

Charizard roared its agreement.

I could see Slate's mind working furiously through his eyes. His big advantage had been Infernape's fighting abilities. Now that had been taken away by Charizard's new flying-type. Every move he had would now have limited effectiveness.

"It's not over yet," he growled. "Close combat!"

"Into the air!"

It was a rewarding sight to see my pokemon launch itself into the sky with two mighty flaps of its wings. One more put it well out of the range of any punch or kick that Infernape could throw.

"Flamethrower!" Slate yelled.

Charizard weaved through the air like it had been doing this all its life. It made quick eye contact with me and its wings pulsed with a white energy.

I threw it a thumbs up. "You got it! Wing attack!"

My pokemon went into a dizzying dive. It swirled around Infernape's flamethrower and drove a glowing wing into the fire monkey. The impact lifted Infernape clear off its feet and threw it across the field.

"Dragon rage!"

Charizard spat the yellow orb and Infernape disappeared in the explosion. This time the pokemon didn't come charging back out instantly like I had expected.

"Flare bitz!" Slate roared.

I had a feeling he was going for broke now. "Flamethrower!"

Infernape shot out of the waning explosion now cloaked in fire. It was met by Charizard's flamethrower not long after it launched. Surprising everyone, Charizard was holding Infernape in place with the flamethrower. Charizard's tail flame pulsed and the size of the flamethrower increased. It overwhelmed the weakened Infernape and drove it to the ground.

"Wing attack!"

Charizard shot over the ground like a rocket. It slammed its first wing into Infernape, lifting it off the ground. Then it swung back around and drove the fire monkey back into the ground with its other wing. Two big flaps and it was out of range of any immediate counter attacks.

I wasn't done though. "Dragon rage!"

Infernape tried to roll but seemed to still take the brunt of the damage.

"Fire fang!"

Charizard swooped in close and latched onto Infernape's arm. I lost sight of them both in the ensure fire and smoke. There was another explosion that I assumed to be Charizard using another fire fang. Then my pokemon flew out of the top of the smoke cloud. Infernape didn't appear.

Charizard gave a flap of its wings and blew the smoke away.

There was Infernape.

"I declare this battle over!" Slate announced. "Victory to Tim the Challenger!"

My roar joined Charizard's. Somehow Slate didn't look too off put by all this. I ran over to him and Charizard landed behind me, just off my right shoulder.

"Later," he said, waving me off. "You've already won. We can do all the details later. Go after the creature that appeared."

"What?" I was confused.

"This is not the first time it's shown itself. It had clearly been waiting for something… or someone. It was waiting for you." He fixed me with a stare so I knew he was serious. "I don't know what it wants but it has shown you its power. Perhaps so you will remember it. Perhaps so others will know. Go find it."

I took off running past him, Charizard hot on my heels.


	43. Chapter 43

I was huffing and puffing pretty hard by the time I was three-quarters of the way up the ramp. I was pretty sure the one I had come down wasn't this steep. Charizard was being polite and flying at the same speed I was running. It could no doubt go much faster than me but I appreciated the gesture. After a few stumbles, I finally got to the top.

Looking down, this side of the volcano was much different than the one I'd come up. My side had been full of treacherous rocks and various paths. This side had one clear path worn into the terrain. It was actually sunk into the ground about six inches. I could see a house at the bottom that I knew had to be Slate's. There was no sign of whatever creature had been there.

Movement caught my eye.

Charizard gave a bored snort as I whirled around. It wasn't some magical creature like I'd hoped. It was a slender woman with the exception of her swollen belly draped in a loose-fitting brown dress. She swept some of her short blonde hair behind her ears and smiled at me. A large case hung at her side and she seemed to be struggling with the weight of it.

"You must be Slate's wife," I ventured.

"That's me," she said and offered her hand. "You must have just defeated my husband."

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

She gave me a look like I was an idiot. "You're up here after the beast. You wouldn't be up here if you hadn't won. It wouldn't have shown itself to someone it thought was going to lose."

"You seem to know a lot about this thing," I said. "Have you seen it before? What is it?"

"Are you serious?"

I blinked in confusion. "Um, yeah?"

She shook her head and lowered herself onto rock to take the load off her feet and set down her big bag. "How do you not recognize it?"

"Lady, give me a break. I haven't even been at this a year yet."

Charizard snorted something that sounded suspiciously like a laugh.

"Fair enough," she said with a smile. "The creature you saw was Entei, one of the legendary beast trio."

"Entei?" I repeated. "As in Entei, Suicune and Raikou?"

"The same."

I was blown away. "What the hell is an entei doing around here?"

"It's been hanging around here for some time," she said causally as if a legendary pokemon was no big deal. "Actually two of them have been seen around here. We didn't get a good enough look to be sure but we think it might've been it may have been Suicune."

"Can I ask something?" I sat down on the ground cross-legged. "I noticed that I referred to it as 'an entei' but you just called it Entei. Do you think there's only one?"

"What do you know about the Legendary Beasts?"

I thought for a moment. "Their master is Ho-oh right? They were resurrected after being burnt up in a tower?"

She nodded. "That's the start of it. The legend that everyone knows is that there were three pokemon in a tower that was struck by lightning. The whole thing went up in flames. It was eventually was put out by the rains and wind. Ho-oh came down out of the sky and reincarnated them as pokemon that represented the lightning that started the fire, the fire that burned the tower and the rains that put it out. The Beasts now roam the lands, often acting as its protectors. Sound familiar?"

I nodded. Charizard even grunted an affirmative which was a little surprising.

"That's only the part of it. Actual pieces of written accounts of this event surfaced a few years ago. It sheds a new light on things. While the base of the story is fairly accurate, there's an element that has been lost over the years: the human element."

"The human element?" I repeated, skeptical. "I thought this was a story about pokemon."

She shot me a look. "It is if you'll be patient. Can I tell the story now?"

I gave a wave to indicate she should go on.

"The Second Generation of pokemon had not emerged into our world yet. The portal, or gate, or whatever you want to call it was open but the pokemon on the other side were hesitant to pass through. There was a tower not too far away that a group of people and three pokemon had gathered to watch the momentous occasion. It was then that the lightning struck the tower and burned it down.

"This horrible event was what drew the Second Generation through into our world. Ho-oh emerged and reincarnated the three pokemon. However, Ho-oh did not have the power to restore the humans to life. The newly restored pokemon took it upon themselves to honor those that could not be revived and declared themselves the guardians of our world."

"So do they protect humans over pokemon or vice versa?"

She thought for a second. "There's been no record of them choosing one over the other. They protect all equally. Although, I'm sure if push came to shove, they'd side with their own species. You ask a lot of questions."

"I'm a curious guy," I said with a shrug. "You sure know a lot."

She returned my shrug. "I read a lot. Being the wife of a Gym Leader can get lonely sometimes." She started to rise to her feet. "Any other questions?"

"Not really." I started to get up too. "Seems like a lot of work for three pokemon though."

"That's true," she admitted, adjusting her dress. "They often mark others that they may see as allies in their commitment. In some religions, the Mark of the Beast is considered bad. Not so when it comes to pokemon."

Mark of the Beast. It echoed in my mind. The phrase burrowed deep into my thoughts until it spit out something more important.

"Marked by the Beast," I muttered. My eyes got huge and I turned to Charizard. "It's you! You're the Mark! That's what it was talking about."

"Um, what?" the woman said. "Did I miss something?"

I realized how crazy I had probably just sounded. Even Charizard was looking at me like I had a few screws loose.

"It's complicated," I said, not really wanting to try and explain that a creature in my dreams had told me that somehow me being marked by a beast was important to opening the Pokemon Sanctuary. "Let's just leave it at it's important."

She looked like she wasn't inclined to drop the subject.

"How about I help you with your bag?" I asked to change the subject and lifted the bag off the ground. It was significantly heavier than I had expected. "Wow. Aren't pregnant women supposed to not lift heavy things?"

She smiled. "Technically, no. Once I heard Entei though, I knew someone would be coming to look and I could get them to carry it for me. You just took longer to finish the battle then I'd thought."

"What is it?" I looped a shoulder strap and it immediately began to dig into my shoulder. "A pile of bricks?"

"A portable pokemon healing machine."

"Really?" I drew the word out. "Can I maybe use it real quick?"

She let me and I healed up my four pokemon after I put Charizard back in its ball. After that, I hefted it back onto my shoulder and followed her the short journey to the tip of the volcano. Down on the rock platform above the lava, David and Slate were battling it out. Dylan stood off to the side, looking pleased so I assumed he had won already. Apparently I had been gone longer than I thought

War Machine, David's rhyhorn, was currently throwing down with a small orange pokemon that I couldn't identify. Once Slate's wife and I made it about halfway down the path, I recognized Slate's pokemon as a flareon, the fire evolution of an eevee. It was a bit different to see the battle from this perspective. I was used to the Gym Leader having the big, bulky, powerful pokemon and having to combat them with speed. It was flip-flopped here. The flareon was probably only still in the battle because of its speed.

"David's pretty well suited for this battle, isn't he?" I said to Dylan once I got down to the platform.

Dylan glanced to the side, clearly just noticing I was there. "Well, yeah. He's better set up than both of us. Two water pokemon, two rock pokemon. He's in good shape."

"How'd your battle go?"

"Quick. I went two-on-two. Probably should've gone double water pokemon but it felt wrong."

I had a hunch. "Electivire?"

He looked surprised. "Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Call it… I don't know. There's a word for it but I don't know."

The flareon made a misstep, slipping on some loose rock.

"Rock blast!" David shouted.

War Machine's horn glowed silver. Three silver projectiles shot out rapid-fire. All three of them slammed into the flareon, pounding it across the field. That super-effective attack was enough to end the battle.

"That it?" I asked when Slate didn't send out another pokemon.

"Yup," Dylan replied, tucking his hands into his pocket. "Honestly, I think Slate's out of pokemon. They only went three-on-three. Flareon, Blaziken and Camerupt against a wartortle, gyarados and obviously rhyhorn. I can't remember what David calls them all."

"Vlad and Skippy?" I ventured.

Dylan snapped his fingers. "Slappy. Close enough. Come on."

We walked over to Slate who took a moment to talk to his wife before producing a laptop and familiar card scanner. He registered us as victors, deposited our winning funds and gave us the Volcano Badge which was shaped like a red flame with a pink crystal in the center while waiting for his first batch of pokemon to heal. There were new trainers heading down the ramp by the time he was all finished.

"You." He looked at me. "You did not find it?"

It took me a second to realize he meant Entei. I shook my head. "It was gone by the time I got up there. I think it already gave me everything I need though."

That got me an approving look. "So be it. On your way now, I have new challengers to face."

We nodded politely to Slate's next group of challenger as we headed back up the trail we had entered by. They were all probably about our age. I thought I recognized at least one of them from the last pokemon center we'd been at. When we reached the top, I made a point to insist that we go back down the same route we'd come up.

It was halfway down the volcano when we saw it. Dylan saw it first.

"Holy crap!" He was already reaching for a pokemon. "Quilava, let's-"

I smacked the poke ball out of his hand.

He glared at me but I simply said, "Hey Snover."

The small ice and grass pokemon looked up at me and chirped happily.

"Does this mean you're coming with me?"

It nodded vigorously.

"Sounds good to me." I pulled out an empty poke ball from a pocket in my backpack. "You're going to have to stay in this for most of the time. All my pokemon do. Don't worry though, I'll make sure you spend a lot of time out too. We'll get you all healed up and a nice meal when we get to the next pokemon center. Still sound good?"

There was a second of hesitation but then it nodded again. I smiled it at and then lobbed the empty poke ball at the pokemon. The ball bounced off the snover's head before sucking it inside. It didn't even quiver once.

"Ok, what the hell was that?" David asked. "You knew that snover?"

I quickly explained to him how I'd met Snover while he had been catching his torkoal. He was skeptical that it was that easy to catch a pokemon. I assured him that it actually wasn't, but that I was just that awesome.

"So can you actually deliver on that promise?" David asked. "You already had to deal with one resentful pokemon."

"Still am dealing with," I corrected. Staraptor and I hadn't completely mended our relationship yet. "And I informed Snover that it will have to battle sometimes. If nothing else, I'll transfer over to Professor Oak's place. It'll essentially be free there and still have plenty of sunshine and food. I feel like I was pretty honest here."

The mountain was even more treacherous going down. Sunny Day had apparently been used again since we had left Slate and some of the snow and ice that had littered the volcano had begun to melt. It was cold enough that it quickly refroze not long after the intense sunshine faded. However, we made good time and had no incidents this time.

Although we would've liked to keep on going with our journey, a stop at the pokemon center was necessary to heal David and Dylan's pokemon. Not only that but we were exhausted. We had gotten up early and climbing a mountain is way harder than walking on solid ground. A vote was taken and it was decided that we would have a nap break. We crashed in unoccupied bunks in the pokemon center's dormitory area. I don't know about the others but I quickly fell into a light nap.

When I woke up, I panicked slightly. The sun was no longer coming in the windows. I was afraid we had slept all day. Then I remembered that it was winter and the sun went down early. It hadn't been more than a couple of hours since we had first lay down.

I kicked at the bunk above me where Dylan was sleeping. "Hey, you ready to go?"

There was a muffled reply.

I kicked at the bunk again and used my best drill sergeant voice, "I can't hear you!"

"This is why nobody likes you."

Dylan slid off the bed to the floor. A joint-popping stretch later he was ready to go. Not surprisingly, David was already up. He seemed to need less sleep than us. We found him propped up in his bunk reading a book he must've found somewhere. At least I hadn't noticed him with any books before.

He looked up and noticed us. "Giddyup," he said and swung his feet around to the ground.

Despite it being dark, we started on our way. We weren't entirely sure how long it was going to take us to get to the next gym. Technically the closest one was in Hawaii. There was no way around having to get some type of transportation to get us there, we just hadn't decided how or what yet. David argued that it we made crossed a few states to the south, that flights would be cheaper because of the smaller distance that the plane would have to cross. I replied that I was cold now and wanted to be out of the snow.

"Hey, do you hear that?" Dylan stopped moving. Stopped breathing even.

David and I froze. Personally I didn't hear anything. We were still threading our way through forest. More than likely it was just Dylan's mind playing tricks on him. I had to admit that it was a bit creepy out here at night.

"You're just being- Oh shit!" I didn't hear anything but I saw it.

Two large red eyes were staring out of the darkness at us.

"What the hell is that?" David snarled, reaching for a poke ball. "I don't recognize it at all! Is it even real?"

I was about to answer when I went sailing backwards. I didn't even manage to scream. It was like I'd hit the bottom of my bungee jump and were flying back up. A tree stopped my progress. I crumpled to the ground as pain racked my body. My eyes managed to focus on Dylan and David also being hurled around.

I was thrown again by the unseen force.

The frozen ground was unkind to me. All the air rushed out of my lungs as I belly flopped onto the ground. I could barely hear my friends yelling over my own gasping breaths.

Suddenly all three of us were in the air, suspended like someone was clutching our throats but no one was there. I grabbed at the invisible hands choking me but found nothing to hold. There was a mechanical whirring sound from behind me.

Then everything went black.

"_And so you have returned."_

_I looked around and it took me a moment to realize where I was: I was back in the dream forest. All the exotic fauna had given way to all sorts of plants I recognized easily. The thing I had realized was a pokemon stood in front of me. It was clearer than before. It was still mostly shadows but I could see a blue overall tone to its flesh with bits of white that looked like fur._

"_What happened?" I asked, almost losing my balance as I realize I was standing._

"_I have been proven correct."_

_I looked around for something I missed. "How do you figure?"_

"_You are currently delivering the stones to the very humans that wish to enslave us. The very humans that are setting traps for my kind outside the gate."_

"_Now hold on just a minute here." I held up my hands to stop the pokemon. "Last thing I remember is getting hurled around a dark forest and you're accusing me of delivering stones to someone? I think you're confused."_

_The pokemon snorted. "I can see it now. You are traveling south with several of them in… something. The female is holding the pouch of stones now."_

_A chill that I knew technically wasn't real ran through me. "Are you sure?"_

"_Don't play dumb with me!" it roared. "You have betrayed my kind for the last time!"_

"_I don't know what you're talking about!" I shouted back. It seemed to startle the pokemon that I had replied that way. "I'm asleep! Unconscious! What don't you get about this!? I was in the forest getting attacked by… something and the next thing I know, we're having another one of these lovely chats!"_

"_How dare you speak to me as such! I do not care about the Beasts and their marks! You have been judged! You are a liar and a dangerous to the pokemon species!"_

"_Perhaps a neutral party is needed." This was a new voice. It was raspy like a whisper but still loud enough to hear easily. "Confusion reigns."_

"_Stay out of this Dark One!" the pokemon bellowed. "You are here only to open the view ways, not to offer judgment!"_

"_Ok, what the fu-" I flinched involuntarily as I saw the big blue eye in front of me. Above it was a white plume and the rest of the body was bathed in ragged shadows._

"_Showing clarity was my command," the voice rasped and the dark figure floated away from me. "Clarity does not reign."_

"_Holy shit," I breathed. It was the eye that I had seen before in my dreams and then again on the tarot card in New Orleans. This was some heavy shit._

"_He does not function of his own will," the dark figure rasped. "Not at this moment."_

"_Dark One, I warn you…," the pokemon was really mad now. It reared up onto hind legs and then appeared to freeze there._

"_No, I warn _you_ Guardian," the dark figure's voice began laced with anger. "You are a guest in my realm. Do not press your luck. Here, you are no match for me."_

_The pokemon was lowered down._

_The Dark One continued. "In your rush to judge, you have forgotten a fact that was offered to you at the beginning. You only see pieces, this is all I can offer. He sleeps now, this is how you speak. My power is in the slumber. I can show you all his dreams, his waking hours are something different."_

_Now I was really confused. This dark thing had been watching all my dreams and watching me when I was awake? That was more than a little creepy. Now it was defending me for some reason._

_If I didn't already know I was dreaming, I would assume I was._

"_Now hang on a minute here," I said, interrupting their debate. "This is all about the pokemon coming through the gate to my world?"_

"_Our world," the Dark One corrected me. "Yes."_

"_What can possi-" I was cut off as everything changed._

_The beautiful trees and plants were gone. Everything was now a barren, dry wasteland. As far as I could see there was nothing but brown dirt, baked and cracked. Angry clouds rumbled and snapped lighting about. It was the exact opposite of the place we had just been._

"_What, what is this?" I stammered. "What happened?"_

"_This is MY world," the pokemon said. "Or it could be if your kind is allowed to do as it pleases. The Time Traveler has shown us this."_

"_This is for certain?" I asked. "This is going to happen?"_

"_If correct choices are not made," the Dark One replied. _

"_What are the correct choices?"_

"_Only the One knows. It is not the One's choice to make. It must be made by others. Made by us."_

_The vagueness was not helping thing._

"_This may also be the fate of our world," the Dark One added. "If the correct path is not chosen."_

"_Is there a right path?"_

_The blue eye just stared at me, silent._

_I sighed. They certainly weren't making it easy. Seems like if they could travel through time, they should do that and figure out what the right choice was._

"_It's not that easy." The Dark One was staring right at me. "Things do not work that way."_

"_That's super-creepy," I told it._

"_You are in my realm," it replied like that cleared everything up._

"_You know what? Forget it." The whole situation was becoming annoying. I was really hoping I'd wake up soon. My first dream visitor was being awfully quiet. I turned to it. "Why the hell are they coming through?"_

"_You dare speak to me-"_

_I cut it off. "Save it. Why are they coming through? Why did you come through? If there's all this danger and destruction if you come through, why are you?"_

_The pokemon said nothing. "It is not up to me."_

"_Don't give me that! I want the truth!"_

"_You can't handle the truth!"_

_After a quick flashback to a movie that I decided not to reference, I spat back, "Try me! I'm not a bad guy! I'm on your side! If a new generation of pokemon coming into my… this world is going to cause all this destruction, then don't come through!"_

"_This destruction is not guaranteed if we pass to your world," the pokemon said. "It may only happen if we do not."_

_I threw up my hands in exasperation. "Then don't come through! Look, I love pokemon. My best friend might be Charizard now but we've got plenty of pokemon. We've got like five-hundred different species already! As cool as new pokemon would be, I'm pretty happy with what we've got. Especially if this is the cost." I waved my hand around. "Seems a pretty steep price no matter which side of the portal it's on."_

_The pokemon paused. "How do I know you aren't just trying to trick us? You are after all delivering the stones."_

"_Enough with that!" I yelled. "I'm unconscious! I can't-"_

Since both cheeks hurt, it apparently took two slaps to wake me up.

"Son of a bitch," I moan. "What was that for?"

"Where are the other stones?" the female voice seemed vaguely familiar. My sleep addled brain was trying to figure out how when she slapped me again. "Where are they?! Tell me!"

Things were adding up quickly. I couldn't move so I must be tied up. I could feel vibrations under me so I guessed we had to be moving, probably in a truck or something. There was next to no light so either there were no windows or it was night. Or it was for dramatic effect. Then there was this woman. She didn't seem like one who'd be going for dramatic effect. I couldn't see much of her, just enough to note a slender body and hair that was surprisingly tall. There was a note of something in her voice but I couldn't be sure if it was panic or desperation.

"You took those stones from me and now I want them back!" she hissed.

That dropped the final piece into the puzzle.

"I remember you," I said quietly. "You're the one who offered us the chance to battle for our freedom at Pallet Town over the intercom system or whatever."

She said nothing but leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest.

"How'd that work out for you?"

I tried to lean back out of the way. A closed fist caught me just above the left eye. The force was enough to knock me off balance and off of whatever I had been sitting on. I hit the metal floor hard. I tried to roll away but it was easier said then done. A small light came on to bath me in its glow. It also gave me enough light to see where I was. As far as I could tell, I was in the back of a semi truck trailer.

A rustling caught my attention. I rolled once to make it look like I was attempting escape but now I could see the source of the noise: Dylan and David. Both were sitting on the floor of the truck, hands and feet bound. Silver duct tape glinted in the light over their mouths. David was trying to gesture subtly at something. I couldn't figure it out until he wiggled his feet.

He was loose.

The woman suddenly loomed over me. "There's no where to run, little one."

David struck.

He rolled onto his back and kicked out with both feet, hitting the woman square on the ass. She pitched forward and slammed into the side of the truck. Voices yelled from the dark end of the truck. Dylan and David managed to work their way to their feet using the wall of the truck. I swung around so I would be in the way as much as possible.

Two men dressed in black emerged out of the darkness. David did his best to fend them off with well-aimed kicks but his bound arms threw off his balance. Dylan and I struggled with our bonds. A man caught David's foot and then swept the other out from underneath him. David slammed onto the floor of the truck, his head bouncing with a sickening crack.

The woman was up and holding her cheek. "You will pay for this! I don't care if I don't have the stones, I will kill you!"

I was the closest so she lunged for my throat. As I felt her fingers on my neck, I pushed off with my feet to get some distance between us. She clutched for me and I felt something snag.

The chain that held my pendant.

I couldn't stop moving in time. The stone at the bottom of the chain had already emerged out the top of my shirt.

The woman began to laugh. "It seems you have just spared yourself for a bit longer. Check the other two for pendants. It would seem they had the remaining three stones all along!"

A sigh escaped my lips. We really had just delivered all the stones to Team Rocket. In our attempt to escape, I had accidentally revealed where the only three not in Dylan's pouch were. Technically, I guess, my dream accuser was right.

Something covered my face and everything quickly faded to black.

Bright sunshine forced my eyes open.

At first I still couldn't see anything. It took a few moments and several blinks for my eyes to focus. I immediately wished they hadn't.

Washington was long gone. Wherever we were now was warm and dry, almost desert like. I began to wonder how long I had been out. Geography wasn't my strong suit but I figured we had to be at least several states away. This climate made me think somewhere like Arizona or maybe Utah. I chased away the thought that I could technically even be in another country. Angry clouds roiled overhead, quickly blocking out that briefest of sun rays.

As unsettling as my location was, the population made it worse. There was easily a thousand people milling about setting up tents, working on equipment or hauling things around. The amount didn't bother me, the big red R that a lot of them sported did. It looked like some type of archeology dig. My heart sank as I put two and two together: Team Rocket needed the stones because they had found the Pokemon Sanctuary.


	44. Chapter 44

A pair of hands grabbed me and a gruff voice commanded, "Up."

I was hauled to my feet from my prone position. There was a moment of panic but then whatever was holding my feet was cut. Shifting from foot to foot, I rolled my ankles around to get some feeling back in them. At my sides, Dylan and David were hoisted up as well.

"Out."

We were still in the truck and I wasn't quite sure how I was going to get out. A swift kick to my back propelled me out the door. I landed in a cloud of dust and struggled to breath as the wind rushed out of my lungs. Having the wind knocked out of me was becoming familiar and I didn't particularly care for it. David and Dylan were ejected from the truck in a similar manner. Some Rockets stopped to laugh as we struggled up to our knees and then slowly to our feet.

"Move."

A hard shove got me walking. I didn't know where I was supposed to be going so I just walked in a straight line. There was a lot going on here and I tried to take in as much as I could through my peripherals so I didn't have to move my head and make it obvious that I was checking things out.

Outside of one large tent that sheltered some heavy duty digging equipment, the majority of the tents seemed to be for personnel. I had expected… well, I didn't really know what I had expected but it seemed like there should've been more equipment. Some kind of analysis equipment maybe, not just digging tools. There various hard-shelled cases sitting outside most of the personnel tents. I could only get a quick glimpse of one that was open but it appeared to be full of poke balls.

"How are there this many people that care so little about pokemon?" Dylan asked and I realized for the first time that neither of their mouths were covered. "Not only that, how has no one realized that they're all here?"

"Storms help with that," said a voice behind us that made us jump. "Hides us from satellites. Otherwise, well, let's just say we've got people in the right spots. It makes things easy."

Despite being vague, it was an unsettling answer.

"Shouldn't you be trying to escape or something?" a different voice from behind us asked. "We heard that you guys were feisty."

"Just biding our time," I called back.

They laughed. "Don't take too long," one said. "We don't have a whole ton of use for you."

The unspoken threat sent chills through my body. It was true: there really was no reason for them to even have us. Once they took the stones from us, why did they bring us here? If they had people in the right places it wouldn't matter who we told what had happened. Or to be honest with myself, they should've just killed us.

"This is about Pallet Town," David said, not a question. "This is revenge for what happened there."

"Revenge? Not really. Well, kind of maybe. More just rubbing it in that we still won. If you'd rather, we could have you killed."

"Such a kind offer," Dylan muttered.

I was about to add something but the words caught in my throat. At the edge of the camp, the ground suddenly disappeared. It went into a deep hole that was easily as long as three football fields and probably half as deep. This was where all the digging machines had been used. Piles of rubble were scattered throughout the trench. At the far end, I could just make out something. There was a plateau way out there with something that looked like an arch atop it backed by high cliffs. It didn't look special other than being old from here but the way the storm clouds were beginning to swirl around it told me otherwise.

"You should feel honored," one of our escorts said. "Outside of Team Rocket, you're the only living people to see the entrance to the Pokemon Sanctuary. Unfortunately you aren't going to get the chance to see what comes out of it. Now move, you're blocking the entrance ramp."

We were hustled off to the side about thirty or so feet where a tall stake had been planted in the ground. Forced up against it, we were tied to it and one another. One of our escorts reached towards me. He grabbed my belt and turned it.

"Can't let you keep these," he said as he grabbed my holster of pokemon still in their poke balls. "No sense in taking chances; am I right?" He did the same to Dylan and David and tossed them all in a pile a few feet away.

"Think we should stay here?" the other one asked.

"For now. The show isn't due to start for a while."

So we waited.

We tried to bait our hosts for more information but got nothing out of them. Their confident smirks told the story. They weren't some James Bond villains who were going to divulge the secrets of their plan. Both of them seemed to be very much aware that it wasn't over until it was actually over.

I was pretty sure an hour had gone by when people began heading down into the trench. Even with the heavy cloud cover it was clear that night was descending. Industrial lights on the side of the trench were lit up, bathing everything in long shadows. Once the lights were on was the cue for the mass exodus from the camp. Rockets dropped whatever they were doing, started grabbing whatever was in those hard-shelled cased I'd seen earlier and headed down to the Sanctuary entrance.

"Well it's time for us to get a move on. Things to do," one of our guards said rather jovially. He hesitated and I wondered if we were about to die. "Ah, here comes our replacements."

"Remember me?" a new voice asked and before I could even find the source, I took a blow to the head.

"Shit!" I yelled as blood began to stream down from my right eyebrow. My vision a little hazy and I couldn't recognize the guy who had hit me.

I heard the sound of flesh on flesh and then Dylan said weakly, "You're one of the guys we defeated in Pallet Town."

After my vision cleared, I found the guy who had hit me. Dylan was right. It was one of the trainers we had defeated in Pallet Town. After running into one back in New Orleans, we had finally met back up with the other. It seemed they had taken their defeat rather hard.

"That's right!" he snarled. "And because of that, I have to stay up here and guard you instead of being down there to capture pokemon!"

He delivered a backhanded slap to me. I worked my jaw around. No loose teeth but I did have a nice gob of blood to spit back at him. He hit me again and the bleeding above my eye picked up. I had to tilt my head to the right to keep the blood from going in my eye. There was an "oof!" and I saw the other trainer we had defeated in Pallet Town deliver a gut shot to David.

They seemed satisfied with the beating they had inflicted for now so I turned my attention back to the trench. All of Team Rocket seemed to have left the camp now. The trench was absolutely swarming with people. A buzzing sound from all the constant conversation was all I could hear.

"Anyone see anything?" I asked. I had by far the worst view after being tied to the post.

"Yeah, something's going on?" David said. After pausing to see if he was going to be hit again, he continued. "There's one guy up on the platform. I think he's got the stones. What the hell…?"

"What the hell indeed?" I prodded.

"That stone just turned into something else! Something a lot bigger!"

One of our new guards snorted. "Stones. How dumb are you?"

"If you're so smart, what are they?" Dylan snapped.

"Plates," the guard said with a smile.

"Plates?" I repeated.

"Plates," the guard confirmed. "Very powerful plates. One for each element."

"It looks like he's putting them into that arch," David reported. "That one's glowing black. Must've been the dark-type stone, er plate." He paused. "That's got to be the fire one."

The buzzing from all the conversations was dying down. Everyone was completely focused on what was happening at the arch. I strained at my bonds to get a better look but still couldn't see the arch. David continued to narrate the scene. The man at the arch had now placed fifteen of the plates.

When the sixteenth one was placed, it was obvious even without David's narration. Power and energy filled the air. The clouds overhead began to spit lightning like they were angry. Pressure seemed to build up in the air. It was almost like the world itself was trying to resist what was happening.

"What's going on?" Dylan asked.

"The arch is glowing white!" David yelled over the wind that was picking up. "It, it's full now! The space in the arch is full of some type of rainbow, shimmery, energy or something! It looks like they're backing away! Maybe it's not stable yet?"

"The arch is meant to open naturally," one of the guards yelled, probably more to his companion than us. "I heard someone say it has its own schedule. Opening it with the plates is creating some type of disturbance in nature!"

Now the need for the stones was making sense. I couldn't understand how they fit into everything before but our guards had just fed me the answers. Team Rocket didn't want to wait around for the Sanctuary to open, they wanted to open it themselves. If they controlled when it opened they could easily be there first and collect all the new pokemon before anyone else even knew what had happened.

"Should we look away?" Dylan shouted. "Is this like _Raiders of the Lost Ark_? Are we all about to be melted?"

The barren wasteland I had seen in my dream flashed before my eyes. "That might not be a bad idea!"

"I wouldn't bother," one of the guards said.

He had a knife in his hand. A big one.

"You won't be around long enough to see what happens," the other said with a sick grin.

"Now hold on a second here!" Dylan yelled. "Let's think this through!"

"We did. We've been thinking about this for a long time."

"There's one thing you've forgotten!" I announced, still struggling. I really hoped this would work.

"Oh, what's that?" the one with the knife asked. He was now tossing it from hand to hand. He feinted at Dylan who flinched.

I took a deep breath. "Steelix! I need you!"

Nothing happened.

"Good try," one of them laughed. "Time to say goodbye!"

My eyes closed as I hoped. Steelix felt it owed me its life. It would do anything to repay me. It had never failed me. Maybe my poke balls were just too far away for it to hear me. I refused to believe the steel pokemon wouldn't help me if it could.

"It's been fun!" one of them roared.

There was a popping noise. It wasn't what I expected stabbing to sound like.

Then there was a sickening squishing noise. Like a person getting hit by a car.

I opened my eyes. All I saw was silver. I looked down. There was a river of crimson pooling at my feet. A rumbling drew my attention up. Steelix loomed over me.

"Thanks buddy," I said, fighting back tears. "I knew you'd save me."

With a surprising gentleness, Steelix nestled its tail behind our bonds and snapped them clean off. I started to drop to the ground but then remembered the blood pool beneath me. Grabbing the pole, I steadied myself. Steelix dragged its tail across the ground, leaving a bloody streak. It positioned the remains of our guards well out of our view. I had to try not to throw up.

Dylan looked up at it. "You are the greatest pokemon ever."

If it could've blushed, Steelix would have.

"I agree," David said, rubbing his wrists. "Now what?"

I stepped gingerly over the pool of human fluids so I could see the trench. The portal or whatever that had formed in the arch must've been deemed unstable still because no one was even on the plateau. All the Rockets were completely focused on the glowing arch. Not a one seemed to notice that two of their companions were dead and a giant metal snake was looming over them. We probably didn't have long before someone took a casual look back and saw us.

"Do we go get help?" I asked. "There's an awful lot of them."

Dylan stepped up beside me. "I don't think there's time. See how the colors are swirling in that portal thing? They're swirling slower. I think it's stabilizing. I don't think we have time to get help."

"I don't think we can take them all," David said. "But we might be able to buy some time. If we can stall them long enough, either we can try to get someone a message or maybe the pokemon will be able to get through the gate without the Rockets getting them. Or maybe the gate will just close without anything coming through."

I looked up at Steelix. "I want you to get underground. Get right below that plateau and wait for my signal." I patted its side. "We've got work to do."

Quieter than I'd ever heard before, Steelix disappeared into the ground. Satisfied no one had heard us, I joined my friends in sorting out our pokemon holsters. We each got our own and reattached it our belts.

"Thoughts?" David asked.

"Maybe," I answered and tossed two poke balls. Staraptor and Charizard appeared. "I need to ask you a favor. What are the odds you two could carry me around this whole trench and drop me right in front of that arch? Preferably without being seen by anyone down there."

I pointed the arch out to them. Staraptor didn't look especially pleased but nodded an affirmative along with Charizard.

"Ok good. After you do, get out of here. Fly and find some help and get them back here as fast as you can."

Charizard snorted defiantly. Staraptor was silent.

"Why don't we just ride Gyarados in?" Dylan asked. "We could all fit on its back."

David answered. "Too big and too obvious and too weak against electric attacks. One good thunderbolt and we'd all die in the crash. If Tim can get around and stall, we can catch up some other way."

"Yeah, but what do I do when I get there?" I asked. "I won't be able to stall for long." The colors in the portal were swirling slower. "Hell, we don't have long at all."

"Shit, just sing and dance or something until we get there," David said. "Once we are all together, we might at least have a fighting chance." He looked at all the Rockets down there again. "Well, maybe not. But we can certainly delay them."

"How are you guys going to get there?" I asked.

David produce a poke ball. "Simple. We ride in style."

He tossed the poke ball into the air. From it emerged a rhyhorn better known as War Machine. David climbed on its back and motioned for Dylan to do the same. From their faces, it didn't look like they were particularly comfortable. They also had to tuck their legs up so they didn't scrape the ground.

"It's been fun," I said to Dylan as I shook his hand.

"You know, we really need to stop having these conversations about dying," he said with a weak smile. "One of these times it's bound to happen."

"It's all up to us now!" David declared. "The fate of an entirely new generation of pokemon is in our hands! There's no one between them and Team Rocket slavery! It all comes down to this moment! This is our greatest moment, our greatest glory!"

He paused like he was searching for words. "Tonight we dine in Hell!"

Dylan and I just looked at him.

We all gave each other one last nod before splitting up.

I think under normal circumstances, I would've enjoyed flying. It seemed rather peaceful. The mob of Team Rocket members underneath me ruined the serenity though.

With Staraptor clutching on of my arms and my hanging onto Charizard's leg, we cruised around the edge of the trench. We were able to take a better angle than Dylan and David and quickly left them behind. The rhyhorn they rode kicked up a cloud of dust in its wake but the sharp winds that threatened to blow me off course took care of it before anyone noticed.

I checked on my pokemon. Neither of them seemed to be having any trouble keeping me aloft. No doubt Charizard could keep me up for a bit if Staraptor lost its grip but I wasn't so certain if it happened the other way around. Instead they began a wide arc so we would come up from behind the arch. We just had to hope that all the attention would be on the arch itself instead of on us.

"Remember the plan!" I shouted to them. "Get out of here as soon as I land and go get help! We won't last long without outside support."

Staraptor didn't respond and I'm pretty sure Charizard rolled its eyes.

"This is it! I appreciate the lift!"

My stomach lurched as we went into a dive. I wish I could've seen us, two pokemon diving with a human between them who's feet were flailing around wildly.

A man had just stepped up onto the plateau. A persian followed closely behind him. I could only guess but I was pretty sure it was the same guy David had seen installing the plates in the arch. If I was in charge of an evil organization, I'd want all the glory for myself so presumably so did he.

We started to level out slightly and Charizard grunted. I nodded my comprehension. Our rate of decent slowed and I started to bring my feet forward. I was about to shout "Now!" when I felt myself free-falling My feet barely cleared the arch which wasn't as tall as I had originally thought. I hit the hard ground and rolled forward. Something went not quite right and I came up gimpy with a twisted ankle. The two pokemon pulled up immediately and came to a stop. Charizard spat flames to drive the man and her persian back off the plateau. Both pokemon then floated over and landed on either side of me.

"What are you doing?" I whispered to Staraptor. "Get going! Get help and then be free!"

Staraptor cocked its head to the side and then shook it.

"Thanks," I said with a smile. "To both of you."

I hobbled over to the edge of the plateau so I could look over the crowd. It sure looked a lot bigger with everyone staring at me. I saw the guy who had been on the plateau when I made my approach. He looked like he was in good shape, probably early forties. His black hair was slicked back and beginning to recede. I probably would've guessed he was like a lawyer or something, not the head of an evil crime syndicate.

"That was quite the entrance," he said in a low, smooth voice.

I tipped my imaginary cap to him. "I try."

He paused for a moment. "I recognize you. You're one of those kids that Ariana brought. You had the stones."

"Guilty as charged."

He and I just stared at each other in an awkward silence.

"Shouldn't you be giving me some grand speech about how what I'm about to do is wrong and I should stop? That you'll do whatever it takes to stop me and that you fight for good? All that nonsense?"

I shrugged. "Would it make any difference?"

He smiled. "None."

"Then I won't waste my breath."

There was another awkward pause.

"So… what do you want then?" he asked as he took a step forward.

I smiled now. "I'm going to stop you."

The man's smile got big now. "Oh really? I would like to see you try. I'm going to open the gate between the worlds and there's nothing you can do about it."

I began to wonder how much longer it was going to take Dylan and David to get here. There was only so long I could stall. I might have to play my trump card.

"You shall not pass!" I declared.

Now the man laughed. "Sure thing, Gandalf."

"YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" I bellowed and stomped my foot, throwing my arms out.

At first nothing happened. Then the ground began to tremble. The man first took a step forward and then two back when he realized it wasn't the portal causing the commotion. Steelix erupted from the ground, throwing chunks of dirt and rock everywhere. The crowd snapped out of its silent stupor and became noisy. Steelix let loose with an ice fang that made everyone lower their heads.

"Do I need to repeat myself?" I asked as I stepped forward and placed a hand on my pokemon.

One Rocket burst through the crowd to approach the leader.

"Sir, we need to hurry!" he said, trying to be quiet but still loud enough for me to hear. "Advance posts are reporting advancing pokemon trainers!" My heart began to sink until he continued. "They think it's the League Champion and local Gym Leader!"

A blast of lighting punctured the sky from far beyond the end of the canyon, probably way on the other side of the camp. It had definitely come from the ground. Help was on the way.

The leader whirled towards me. "Enough fucking around! Take him! Take him and anything that exits that gate!"

The sound of opening poke balls echoed in the trench. Hundreds, thousands of poke balls emptied their contents. I saw pokemon of all kinds and types. I saw gabites and mamoswine, golems and gyarados, absol and seviper, ursaring and skarmory. The humans began to backtrack leaving just the leader between me and an army of their pokemon.

"Holy shit," I breathed. I wasn't going to even be able to slow this army down.

The leader said something into a walkie-talkie he produced from his belt and the pokemon army split at the center. Two figures were walking down the newly created aisle. Not figures, I realized, but some kind of pokemon.

The first was vaguely humanoid but I could see by the way it was walking that its knees bent the opposite direction of mine. The skin I could see was a milky white with the exception of its purple tail. Some kind of weird armor covered part of its body. Ankle pieces and gauntlets, a massive chest piece with should guards and a helmet with mirrored viewport hid most of its features. I'd never seen anything like it but it radiated sheer power.

The second appeared to be more machine than natural. It seemed to be made completely of purple metal. It had long pointed arms and legs each tipped with a silver claw. Riding on its back was what looked to be a massive cannon. The head was kind of flat and saucer-shaped with what looked to be a white mouth… and red eyes.

The same red eyes I had seen in the forest.

"You son of a bitch," I snarled. "So that's what hit us in the woods."

The Rocket boss smiled. "Yes, these are my creations. A mix of powerful pokemon and human ingenuity. Part ruthless hunters and part machines. A perfect balance of the two. I give you Mewtwo and Genesect."

I had no response to these mechanical nightmares but was saved from having to do so by a bellow and a crash. Whirling around I saw that my friends had arrived. War Machine was pawing at the ground, ready to charge again as its riders disembarked.

"You weren't going to start without us, were you?" Dylan asked with more confidence than I'm sure he felt. "That's just plain rude."

There we were, the three of us against an army of pokemon and two genetically enhanced pokemon that I'm sure had legendary powers. Things were slanted heavily against us. Sure the Champion was coming, but even he would find it impossible to beat these odds.

However, there seemed to be something I was missing. Even as Dylan traded banter with the Rocket boss, something nagged at the back of my mind. Like some kind of signal that I had missed…

Or not missed but not given!

"Charizard!" I called.

The pokemon knew instantly. It turned its tail to me. The flames were enormous. It might've been its ability Blaze kicking in but I knew it wasn't.

"Shut up!" I yelled at Dylan who was shocked into silence. "Electivire! Now!" I turned to David. "Vlad too!"

There was no hesitation. The two pokemon appeared quickly. But nothing happened other than the odds being slightly less against us.

A roar echoed through the trench.

A second joined it and then a high-pitched howl.

All eyes raised to the cliff behind us. My friends and I slowly turned to follow their gaze. Up there were three figures. I recognized them instantly despite having only seen them in shadows before.

Entei, Suicune and Raiku.

They roared again.

"Did I mention we brought backup?" I asked the Rockets. "Because we did."

"Capture them!" the boss yelled. "Capture them all and kill those trainers!"

The legendary pokemon erupted in lightning, ice and fire. They raked their attacks through the legion of pokemon before taking off running. They were powerful but even they were susceptible to the numbers game. More than half the army swarmed after them, leaving probably less than thirty-percent of it for us. Unfortunately that thirty-percent included Mewtwo and Genesect.

"You want a fight?" I called to them. "You got one!"

Dylan, David and I emptied our belts of all the pokemon they held.


	45. Chapter 45

Organized chaos was the only way to describe it.

I had tried issuing orders for all my pokemon but quickly became overwhelmed trying to coordinate the actions of eleven different pokemon. Instead I began issuing broad, general orders and let my pokemon act as they saw fit. With the exception of Snover, all had been with me for some time and I could trust them. I assigned my only ice-type pokemon to stick close to Heracross and Sandslash who worked efficiently as a unit to repel anything that got too close.

My friends' scyther and my grovyle were racing through the ranks of the oncoming pokemon. Their speed the only thing that was keeping them intact for the time being. Twin gyarados circled above our heads, keeping flying pokemon at bay with assistance from Al the golbat, Butterfree, Staraptor and Dylan's dustox. Gliscor and Gengar had formed a lighting fast tag team that could quickly fend off anything that made it up any side of the plateau. We seemed to be holding the line, giving me hope. Then whenever a swarm of pokemon went down more filled their place and the faint sounds of opening poke balls could be heard. The rest of the pokemon were scattered about, fighting their individual battles with the exception of three.

Charizard, Electivire and Vlad the wartortle were engaged with the two monstrosities that the Rocket boss had introduced. It seemed fitting that this trio was the ones to battle with the most powerful of Rocket pokemon since they seemed to be receiving increased strength from the Beast Trio that was battling nearby. However, their increased abilities weren't enough. Not nearly enough. Mewtwo and Genesect hadn't launched a single attack but they hadn't needed to. They were simply dodging everything our pokemon were throwing at them.

It seemed enough to just distract them until the Rocket boss emerged from the chaos. He threw his hands into the air and with them a quartet of poke balls. From each came forth a tyranitar. Big, green and covered in natural armor, they were not to be taken lightly. One of them was different. It was enormous. It was half again as big as the normal sized tyranitar. The monster tyranitar moved closer, flanked by the others of its kind. Rocket Boss had chosen his spot carefully: they had an unimpeded path to us.

"Oh shit!" Dylan yelled as stones formed out of nowhere and began spinning around the tyranitar. "Look out!"

We scattered and dove as the stone edge slammed into our plateau. No one took a direct hit but there was plenty of shrapnel that opened a number of cuts on my arms and face. The wound above my eye had started bleeding again too. David came up gimpy with a big cut on his lower calf.

"Steelix!" I shouted.

The metal snake was there in an instant. The big tyranitar left the group to meet it. Steelix tried to freeze it with an ice fang but was overwhelmed by a dark pulse. An iron tail did manage to knock the overgrown dark- and rock-type pokemon off its feet though. Steelix went after it.

That now just left three of them to attack us.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Charizard darting around in the air around Mewtwo and clearly not able to come help. In fact, I couldn't see any pokemon that were in the position to come help. They were all lost in battle, at least the ones I could see. It was not exactly how I had planned to go out.

"Croco-naw!"

A pillar of water blasted into the tyranitar on our left and knocked it into the ones next to it. They staggered around but didn't go down.

"Vyle!" A glowing green orb exploded against each one of them.

Dylan's croconaw and my grovyle emerged from the ruckus. They walked slowly towards the three bigger pokemon like there was nothing distracting around them at all. Neither showed an ounce of fear against their powerful foes. They had survived this long in this war, nothing would frighten them now.

"Grovyle, leaf blade!" I ordered.

Grovyle leapt into action. Leaves folding into glowing green sickles, it raced towards the tyranitars. The grass pokemon dodged their clumsy dragon claw attacks and raked a green blade across each one. As they turned to follow my pokemon, Croconaw pounded them all with another water gun. When they turned back to face Croconaw, Grovyle raced back through them again and slashed each one.

"Just like at Pallet Town," Dylan observed. "Rare pokemon but poorly trained."

Grovyle was now standing next to Croconaw. I said, "Shall we show them what proper training can do?"

Dylan nodded. "Water gun!"

"Energy ball!"

Grovyle formed the glowing green ball in between its claws. Instead of throwing it though, it merely lifted it into the air. From behind it Croconaw blasted out a water gun that swept up the energy ball. The grass-type attack pulsed at the front of the water gun as it raced towards the three tyranitar. It slammed into the center one in a swirling explosion of blue and green.

"Energy ball!" I shouted again.

"Ice fang!"

The pokemon repeated the sequence only with ice fang providing the propulsion. The frozen energy ball slammed into the dazed tyranitar. When the whirling energies subsided, I could see that one tyranitar was down and the other two didn't have far to go before they were joining their friend being face down.

"Leaf blade!"

"Water gun!"

Grovyle slashed an X across the chest of its target. The tyranitar didn't move. Then it tipped over backwards and didn't move. Dylan's had been knocked off its feet and lay unmoving in a pool of water. Three up, three down. Only the big one remained and Steelix currently had its work cut out for it.

White light pierced the dark skies.

At first I thought the portal to the Pokemon Sanctuary had opened. Then I realized it was coming from a pokemon. No, not a pokemon. Two pokemon.

Grovyle's body filled out, getting thicker and stronger. The twin leaves that had been its tail fused together into what was looking like a thick tree branch. Bulbs of something were sprouting in two lines down its back. The leave on the top of the grass pokemon's head retracted and two large crests pushed out of the skull. The trio of leaves had formed into two large leaves that reminded me a bit of big blades of grass. As the light faded, I could see my pokemon was almost completely green with exception of a pink strip across its stomach and its entire lower jaw. The same yellow eyes blinked back at me though. Grovyle was gone; it was now Sceptile.

Croconaw had undergone a drastic remodeling as well. It had more than doubled in height, now taller than Dylan and myself. Jagged teeth stuck out of the jaws that had extended even further than before. Bulking arms had replaced the stubby ones the pokemon had used before. Huge red spines traced along its spine down to its thick tail. Croconaw, a slightly awkward pokemon, had been replaced by a monster as Feraligatr.

"Aw shit!" Dylan roared. "Now things are really going to get interesting! Get'em Feraligatr!"

It was at that moment that something happened. I didn't know what it was but I knew it had happened. Everyone and everything knew it had happened. You could feel it in the air. There was a moment of universal hesitation as the feeling rippled across the battlefield. Even as far away as where the Champion was supposedly battling there was a pause in the action.

Then I saw it. The portal had stopped swirling. The colors were gone. It now just glowed a silvery, white. No pulsing, nothing.

"It's open!" the Rocket boss screamed. "It's open! Advance!"

The white on the front of Genesect's mouth flickered white, like it was trying to saw something. Then it was gone. The pokemon had leapt straight up into the air. Mewtwo crossed its arms over its chest as they glowed purple. It then threw them out and a just barely visible wave hurled everything away. Our three pokemon that had been attempting to battle them were slammed into the ground. Mewtwo pulled a three-fingered hand back and a glowing blue orb formed in it. It whipped it underhand at Vlad who disappeared in the explosion. Genesect landed and pulled something red out of the cannon on its back only to replace it with something blue. A light welled up deep in the cannon that rode on the pokemon's back until a huge beam blasted out, slamming into Charizard and detonating in a aqua colored explosion. Mewtwo's arm turned into a glowing blue blade that it swept across Electivire. The electric pokemon bounced away. All three of our pokemon groaned but didn't move.

Genesect whirled to face Feraligatr and Sceptile. It swapped the blue cartridge in its cannon for a yellow one. The light welled up again, yellow this time. Dylan and I shouted for our pokemon to move but they were quickly overtaken by the beam and blast. Mewtwo launched itself at Steelix, left hand ablaze. A single strike beneath the jaw was enough to topple my steel titan. It crashed to the ground, landing on top of a group of Rocket pokemon. Genesect spun once more. This time it was a shimmering silver beam that was fire and I recognized it as flash cannon. A huge detonation blossomed on the battlefield. Both our and Rocket pokemon were thrown about like rag dolls.

Dylan's quilava had somehow avoided the carnage thus far and was sneaking around the back of the Rocket duo. When it was certain it hadn't been seen, it went racing in using flame wheel. Genesect spun and drove a silver-glowing claw down onto the fire pokemon. Quilava's upper half was literally buried into the ground. The pokemon didn't move.

I put together a string of four-lettered words that would've made a sailor flinch.

"Just like that," David breathed. "Just like that and it's over. Holy shit. It's over."

Satisfied with their carnage, Mewtwo and Genesect began walking towards us. At first I thought they were coming for us, to finish us off. Then I realized their visors were looking past us. They were willing to ignore us to get into the Sanctuary. We could live to fight another day if we let them pass, if we ignored everything we had just tried to accomplish.

Not a chance.

David picked up an oblong piece of stone, one of the pieces from a stone edge actually. "You aren't getting by us!" he yelled as he threw the stone.

Dylan picked one up and threw it too. I had just picked up my own stone when I heard a peculiar sound. The sound of stone on metal. I looked up just in time to make eye contact with Mewtwo who was now sporting a small dent just below its eye visor. It hadn't moved but I could literally sense its fury. The hate literally flowed through the air.

"Uh oh," I just barely got out before the pokemon exploded with purple energy.

The three of us were thrown backwards like we were weightless. I slammed down hard on the solid rock plateau. I felt something pop in my chest and suddenly it became harder to breath. Not impossible, but difficult. A cracked or broken rib was the first thing that came to mind. Dylan had apparently tried to land on his feet and not been successful. He was on his side, clutching his ankle. David was out of my sight.

Suddenly my breathing went from labored to impossible. Something had clamped down on my throat. I scrambled to grab at it but found nothing there. An invisible force began pulling me up by my throat until I hung a few inches off the ground trying to fight off something I couldn't see. Through eyesight that was getting fuzzy I saw Mewtwo with one hand extended, palm up. My oxygen deprived brain managed to realize that this pokemon was a psychic-type which probably explained a lot.

Blackness was starting to creep in around the edges when I heard a noise and the pressure from around my neck vanished. I crumpled in a heap and began gasping for air. I didn't even have enough air to scream as pain rippled out from my ribcage. Even with my face smashed into the ground I could tell something was standing over me. My strength was beginning to return as I turned my face up. Everything was still blurry and all I could see was pale flesh. Mewtwo must have decided to finish the job up close.

"Iggly! Igglybuff!"

My vision sharpened as my brain started pumping adrenaline on overtime. The pale flesh in front of my didn't belong to Mewtwo at all. Somehow, in the frenzy of the starting battle, I had unleashed Igglybuff. I had no idea where it had been during the entirety of the skirmish but now it had returned to defend me.

"Iggs! No!" I croaked and tried to reach for it. "Get out of here!"

Mewtwo took a step forward, now really wanting to finish things up close. Igglybuff threw out its arms and yelled at it again. Mewtwo was undeterred. I lurched forward to try and grab the pokemon to get it out of the way of the oncoming onslaught, to protect it somehow. My fingers had almost just touched it as Igglybuff exploded in light.

Igglybuff's body swelled out into a round shape, growing in all directions. The nubs on the top of its split apart and formed a pair of ears. The swirl on its forehead became three-dimensional and turned into a curl, almost like bangs. The nubby little limbs were still nubby but bigger and appeared to be more able.

"Iggs, you evolved," I said softly. "You evolved to save me."

"Jigglypuff!" the new pokemon declared.

Jigglypuff launched into the air at the still approaching Mewtwo. It planted a series of pound attacks in the pokemon's stomach that didn't seem to even phase it. Jigglypuff was undeterred and kept raining down blows. Mewtwo had stopped moving. It seemed to be letting my pokemon have its way, like a patient parent with a hyper child. Then came the viscous backhand. Jigglypuff bounced once and landed right in front of me. Mewtwo raised a hand and a enormous blue orb formed there. It hurled it right at Jigglypuff.

"Jigglypuff!" I screamed and knowing fully what I was doing, threw my body over the fallen pokemon. I slammed my eyes shut but I could still see the advancing blue light through them.

I wondered if it would hurt.

I wondered if I would even feel it before I died.

Time seemed to slow down for me as I heard the explosion of the blue orb before I felt it. The heat touched my face and I knew the end was close. It gave my mind enough time for a last few last thoughts.

I thought of my parents and grandparents.

I thought of Dylan and David.

I thought of Jen.

I wondered what it would be like to die.

I wondered what the afterlife would be like.

I wondered what would become of my pokemon.

.

.

.

.

I wondered what was taking so damn long.

I forced my eyes open. The attack really had exploded but something was funneling the explosion around me. When the fire and smoke had passed and my eyes had adjusted to the fading brightness, I began to see what had saved me.

It was big, probably bigger than me had I been standing by a good foot. It was also very blue. A blue fur covered most of its body, going into a lighter blue just above its four black feet. Its gray tail looked similar to the two yellow fins that were above its front shoulders. When it turned to look at me, atop the long neck was a face with a light blue snout. Two long, crooked horns stuck into the air and between then was a light blue blade that faded into nothingness.

"I am Cobalion," it said in a deep voice. Its mouth never moved. I just somehow heard the voice anyway.

The voice made something click in my head. "Nice to see you not all cloaked in shadows."

The pokemon snorted in amusement. "Perhaps the Beasts were not wrong in marking you. You have proven yourself an ally to Pokemon. All of you."

I turned in time to see two pokemon emerge from the portal. It stretched as they came through but then snapped back into place. They both had a form similar to Cobalion but different. The first was more slender and green. It almost looked like it had boots on. Instead of tall horns like Cobalion, this one's went straight out to the sides and ended in dull points. The second was shorter and bulkier, covered in mostly grey fur except for the tan bands above its black feet. Its sharp horns pointed downward. The green one stood behind Dylan and the other behind David.

Blasts of lightning, fire and water erupted from behind us. Although I had been certain they had been fighting far ahead of us, Entei, Raiku and Suicune were now on the cliffs to our backs. The three elemental attacks stretched into the sky, warning all that were near that a new era was upon us.

Mewtwo and Genesect had barely moved. The emergence of three new pokemon, clearly powerful pokemon, had changed things drastically. What had seemed a lopsided fight just had the odds tilted quite a bit. However, I noticed a twitch in one of Cobalion's legs and I realized things were not as tilted as I had thought. Cobalion and its friends were undoubtedly strong but Mewtwo and Genesect were no ordinary pokemon. They were naturally strong and then enhanced beyond their natural capabilities by science. Combine that with the army of Rocket pokemon that was currently hanging back and watching, and things were still slanted heavily against us.

"Rise," Cobalion instructed.

I made certain Jigglypuff was alright and then slowly got to my feet as to not disturb my ribs. David had reappeared, his left arm slumping at what was not a good angle. Dylan managed to get all the way up somehow and put very little weight on his right ankle. We were still all in one piece, just barely, but still technically in one piece.

"In our world, there was a dragon," Cobalion began and from the gate floating an orb. It glowed with a grey light. "It was the most powerful of all pokemon but even its immense power did not make it omnipotent. It was divided over what was more important in life: truth or ideals."

Somehow the entire battlefield had gone quiet. Everything and everyone could somehow hear Cobalion and was listening in rapt attention to the story. Even the two mechanical monstrosities.

"It was so divided that it actually split its own being apart, creating new dragons. One that represented truth."

A white orb slowly pulled out of the sphere that had been floating in front of Cobalion. The main sphere's color now changed to a smoky black color while the new orb, white as new snow, floated in to a stop in front of me. It was probably right about the size of a poke ball now. The original orb was probably about twice that size.

"One dragon that represented ideals."

A second orb split out now. It was black as obsidian. It and the remaining orb were now the same size as the one in front of me. The black orb came to rest in front of Dylan. The remaining orb was kind of a frosty white and began floating towards David as Cobalion finished, "And one that represents the absence of both."

The three orbs hung there, unmoving now in front of us.

"It was said that after battling to a standstill and casting ruin upon the world, they sealed themselves away. They were to reside inside their orbs until they were called upon by heroes once more. This time, they would save the world. Not devastate it."

Cobalion said no more. The murmur of the crowd rose again. Pokemon began stirring and advancing. Whatever had held Mewtwo and Genesect had vanished and the two began moving towards us. The battle was about to restart.

I reached out and touched the white orb.

My eyes got wide as a white flash filled me with knowledge. The flash was resolving itself into a pokemon and I instantly knew it. I knew it was called Reshiram even before I could make out the turbine-like tail or the claws on its wings or the long neck with the flowing mane atop the slender head. Glass bands formed around its neck as I could recall attacks that Reshiram knew, attacks that had never been seen before. Thick, three-toed legs formed for Reshiram to stand upon and its transformation was complete.

A mighty creature that looked like it was bathed in shadow stood before Dylan. It had a similar base form to Reshiram with the thick legs and turbine-like tail but it ended there. This pokemon had powerful looking three-clawed hands with guards that fell over them. What looked like shoulder guards formed out into a pair of wings. A single horn protruded from the back of the rounded head. It was different, yet the same. I knew it to be Zekrom.

Something completely different was with David. Its body was grey with small clawed legs and arms. In a frosty, icy color it had the start of the turbine tail but that was all. Two wings, one shorter than the other, appeared to be made of ice with two spikes of ice at the ends of each. The head looked as if ice had grown around the face in an X. Two yellow eyes were visible below the top tendril and sharp teeth above the bottom. The ice crested up into horns with a yellow gem between them. It was everything and it was nothing. I knew it as Kyurem.

That wasn't all I learned either. I learned that the green pokemon that had emerged from the gate was called Virizion and its stocky companion was Terrakion. I saw the faces of pokemon I had never seen, but would see soon. There was just a glimpse of something that looked familiar. I realized that it was actually Genesect, but before Team Rocket had changed it. How they had gotten their hands on it in the first place was still a mystery.

"This…," I said slowly. "This changes things."

"This changes nothing!" it was the Rocket boss. He had moved to the front of the crowd and was waving for more pokemon to be released. "We don't fear your dragons! I will capture them all and take control of the Sanctuary!"

The roars of all three dragons was deafening.

"Bring it on!" Dylan snarled back. "We're going to take down your two freaks and then we're coming after you!"

"Kyurem and I will handle the crowd," David said. "Kyurem, glaciate!"

A powerful wind, visibly blue, shot out of Kyurem's snout. It slammed into the big tyranitar that had been battling Steelix before Mewtwo had disabled my pokemon. The tyranitar took one step back and then was completely encased in ice so thick I could barely see it in there. Kyurem began to ascend. David grabbed onto one of its legs to hitch a ride. He tossed me a salute as he lead the other pokemon back into battle.

"You." I pointed at Mewtwo. "You hurt my jigglypuff. Your ass is mine."

Mewtwo didn't hesitate. It reached back to form the blue orb I had finally realized was aura sphere. It hurled it at Reshiram. Genesect launched itself into the air and Zekrom followed.

"Reshiram, use fusion flare!" I ordered.

Reshiram opened its mouth and an orb of red, yellow and orange fire began to grow. Two rings of fire encircled it as it grew. Reshiram pulled its head back and then threw it back forward, launching the enormous fireball. It slammed into the aura sphere and they detonated violently. The ground shuddered with the sheer power they exuded.

Mewtwo twitched. It was barely noticeable but I caught it. Just a subtle movement of its right shoulder. I couldn't tell if it was fear or anger or something else. I had to guess that the psychic pokemon had never come across anything that could stand toe-to-toe with it. It leapt at my pokemon with a fist of fire.

Reshiram was the closest thing this world would probably ever see to a Fire God but I decided to keep that fact to myself for now. "Dragon claw!"

The fire dragon's claws glowed pink, not the light blue or green I'd expected. It left traces in the air as it met Mewtwo's fire punch. The two attacks crackled and then detonated, repelling both pokemon. Each jammed its feet into the ground as it was thrown backwards and they were now both standing at the ends of long trenches.

"Take flight!"

The air was not as safe as I might have thought. Mewtwo took off at a dead sprint to the canyon walls. It began bounding up the rocky side until it reached the top and with probably a bit of a psychic push, sent itself soaring at Reshiram. Mewtwo's arm turned into a glowing blue blade which when it swiped at empty air, sent rings of similarly blue energy at Reshiram.

"Dragon pulse!"

From Reshiram's mouth came a pulsing purple orb. It met the first psychic ring and exploded, taking the other rings with it. Mewtwo attempted to slash the dragon with its blade but Reshiram nimbly floated aside. The psychic pokemon landed hard in a crouch, hard enough that it sank into the ground and rocks burst out from the ground around it.

"Fusion flare!"

We had the high ground and took advantage. Mewtwo had taken just a hair too long to recover from its landing. The huge ball of fire slammed into the psychic pokemon. It took a few seconds but I spied it racing out of the roiling explosion. Wisps of fire trailed after it and there was now heavy charring on its armor. That twitch I had seen before was back but now it was a tremble. The meaning was clear this time: it was absolutely furious.

I was in an interesting position now. Normally I was the one with the undersized pokemon but Mewtwo was dwarfed by Reshiram. Speed might be about even between the two, possibly with Mewtwo a little faster, but its size made it much more agile. Reshiram would have to defend against most attacks whereas Mewtwo could dodge.

A swarm of metang suddenly joined our battle. I was confused at first because I had been so focused on what Reshiram and I were doing, I had forgotten there was a much larger battle going on at the same time.

"Get rid of those metang with fusion flare!" I ordered.

The steel-type pokemon disappeared in a fiery explosion and I took a moment to take in the larger battle. Entei, Raiku and Suicune had changed their objective. They had rounded up all our fallen pokemon and were currently protecting them. Cobalion, Virizion and Terrakion had taken their place in the melee since they were much fresher. Dylan and Zekrom had moved their battle with Genesect up onto the cliffs. How Dylan had actually gotten up there, I didn't know. Kyurem and David were in the very center of the entire battle and they appeared to be winning.

Reshiram roared. I refocused to see that Mewtwo had taken advantage of the metang distraction, possibly having called them on to do so. It had flown off the cliffs again and slashed two of its psychic blades across Reshiram's chest.

"Dragon pulse!"

The dragon spat the purple orb. Mewtwo landed and came up with its blades crossed across its chest. The dragon pulse slammed into them. At first Mewtwo dropped down to one knee but then rose back up, slashing the blades apart. The dragon pulse detonated. The psychic pokemon drew both its hands back to its right side. Another aura sphere began to form there but instead of throwing it, Mewtwo continued to focus on it. It continued to grow and was quickly much bigger than a normal attack. With more effort than usual, Mewtwo hurled the oversized aura sphere.

"Fusion flare!" I called. "Then follow up with dragon claw!"

Things didn't work quite that easily. Fusion flare and aura sphere slammed into each other but didn't explode like I thought they would. The two attacks kept trying to force one another back, barely moving in either direction, like a pair of stubborn warriors. Reshiram couldn't attack with dragon claw because there was no telling just how big this explosion might be. Mewtwo held up its hands, palms toward its aura sphere and began glowing with purple energy. The same energy encapsulated the aura sphere and it started forcing the fusion flare back. Suddenly the aura sphere ripped through the fusion flare.

"Get out of there Reshiram!" I yelled as the pokemon dove and swirled around the attack, just barely avoiding it. "Use dragon claw!"

Mewtwo met Reshiram with its psychic blade that it enhanced with whatever psychic power it was using. The two attacks exploded like before but this time Reshiram got the worst of it by far. I realized I was going to have to be more creative in my battle strategy. Mewtwo had clearly been enhanced more than just physically. Its battling style was nothing short of brilliant.

"Get in there! Use dragon claw!"

Reshiram darted back in close, claws glowing pink. Mewtwo was ready with a fire punch. As the attacks collided and the two pokemon struggled against one another, I yelled, "Smack it with your tail!"

The two bands that encapsulated Reshiram's tail clocked Mewtwo upside the head with enough force to jar it off balance. Reshiram took advantage and raked its dragon claw across Mewtwo. Even through the metal mask it wore, I could hear Mewtwo cry out in pain. It leapt back to avoid a second claw. Reshiram fired a trio of dragon pulses. Mewtwo dodged the first two but took the third in the chest. It came flying forward out of the explosion just like I had guessed and right into a fusion flare.

"Excellent Reshiram!" I laughed. "Now get in there and finish it with dragon claw!"

Reshiram launched forward. Something shot straight up out of the fusion flare explosion. It was Mewtwo, covered in its purple energy again. Somehow it was harnessing this energy to make itself fly now. I could see that some of its armor was damaged now. It was missing one entire arm's worth and part of its helmet was broken off, revealing a small horn. High above the canyon it finally stopped and raised both its hands to the sky. An aura sphere formed between its hands, surrounded by the purple psychic energy. The two energies began to swirl together, turning the sphere a dark blue. Then it began to grow. It was already huge and still growing. It was probably ten feet in diameter already and getting bigger.

"Oh shit," I muttered as Reshiram landed at my side. "It's going to wipe out this whole canyon, gate and all!"

Reshiram's only response was for flames to ignite inside its tail turbine.

I nodded. "You're right. Get ready and wait for my signal!"

As Mewtwo's sphere got larger, the flames in Reshiram's tail got more violent. When the sphere was probably twenty feet in diameter, it finally stopped growing. For a brief moment it seemed like nothing in the world moved. Then Mewtwo lifted the sphere and hurled it towards Earth.

I threw up an open hand, pointed at the sphere and Mewtwo. "Reshiram! Blue Flare!"

Reshiram opened its mouth. A light blue orb formed there. The dragon pokemon threw its head forward and the orb exploded into a brilliant beam of blue and white fire. Rings of a similar color surrounded it as it scorched the sky. It pounded into Mewtwo's sphere, flames shooting wildly all around it. Mewtwo's psychic glow increased as its attack was forced back and it willed it to go the other way. Reshiram responded by increasing the fire in its tail. It was now churning like a jet engine. There was a flash and the blue flare drastically increased in size.

"Do it!" I yelled over the noise. I had to brace myself against the wind that all this power was kicking up. "Finish it!"

Reshiram roared and the blue flare got even bigger. It swallowed up the opposing sphere entirely. Mewtwo never had a chance to get out of the way. I could briefly see its silhouette inside the blue flames and then it was gone. When Reshiram's attack faded away, shooting through the sky into space, there was no sign of Mewtwo. There was no counter-attack, nothing. I had no idea if it had survived, not just been defeated, but actually survived.

I was distracted from this thought by a huge light blue beam shooting into the sky from the cliffs and Genesect. At first I didn't know what it was shooting at until Zekrom exploded with lightning. Its whole body was encased in it. The electric dragon dove right into the beam, cleaving it in two as it approached Genesect. Zekrom didn't slow until it slammed into the Rocket pokemon. A huge funnel of an explosion encompassed the two. When it finally faded, there was only one standing: Zekrom.

"It's over!" I heard David yell. I looked up to see him perched precariously on Kyurem's back as they drifted down from the sky. "You've lost Boss Rocket!"

"That's impossible!" I heard the boss of Team Rocket scream. "I cannot lose!"

"You just did!" Dylan declared as he dropped to the ground next to me, barely maintaining his balance on his bad leg. "We won, you lost."

David joined us on the ground. Reshiram gave a flap of its wings and joined its dragon brethren in the sky not far above us. All three of them roared. The ground shook with their combined power. Their roars were echoed back by the Legendary Beasts. Cobalion and the other guardian pokemon joined in as well. It felt like the entire planet was trembling.

That's when I noticed it. The white light streaming over my shoulders. I turned to see the gate to the Pokemon Sanctuary bursting at the seems with light. We had managed to defend the gate. Nothing had entered, only exited. As the light increased, so did the trembling of the ground. My friends turned to face the gate as well. The power contained with the stone arch finally ruptured and white energy poured forth. It swept over us, bathing us in white light until it became overwhelming and everything went black.


	46. Chapter 46

I only remembered bits and pieces of what happened after I blacked out. There were some vague images of people, the canyon and at some point the sun. Pieces of dreams with a shadowy figure were at the fringe of my memory. I remembered riding in something which probably explained how when I opened my eyes, I found myself in a hospital room. It took a moment but I eventually forced my eyes to focus on the sterile white surroundings. Only the wall directly in front of my bed was different and it was red. Two green chairs were in either corner. There was a few tubes and sensors attached to me including one in a location I would've really rather avoided.

It only took a few seconds for someone to burst into my room after I ripped the sticky sensor pads off my chest. There were little red circles where they had been. The nurse began checking all my vitals while I tried to figure out how to make the hospital gown sit on my skin in a way that didn't itch. I found the bed controls and tilted the top up so I was more sitting than laying.

"So you're awake!" it was the doctor, a guy with short black hair who didn't look all that much older than me but obviously was. "How do you feel?"

I tried to respond but my tongue felt like a dry sponge. The nurse helped me sip some water. "Fine. Where am I?"

He ignored the question and started examining the machines I was still hooked up to. "Vitals seem fine. Brain activity is normal." He did a few tests with me following his light with my eyes and then made sure I had feeling in all my extremities.

"You seem to be fine Tim, but I want to keep you here for another day or two just to make sure," the doctor said as he made some notes on his clipboard. "Any questions?"

I snorted. "Yeah. What the hell happened, where am I, what happened to my friends and what happened to my pokemon?"

"No loss of memory." The doctor scribbled another note. "No one is entirely certain what happened to you and your friends but you seem to all be fine now. Everyone's best guess is that when the portal between the worlds opened, it released so much energy that your bodies simply shut down. Most likely in an effort to protect yourselves. Or possibly it functioned like an EMP, only instead of affecting electronics, it affected people."

I noted that this guy already knew about the gate we had been defending. That meant someone had to tell him. Unfortunately, there were two very different groups of people that could've told him.

"Your friends are both here too. They woke up a few hours ago. You'd all been unconscious for almost three days, borderline coma. Whatever energy you were exposed to was remarkable consistent. As for your pokemon…," he trailed off and my heart sank. Then he pointed at a chair to my side I hadn't noticed. "Ah, there they are! Professor Oak arrived not long after the three of you had been evacuated and was able to sort out which pokemon belonged to which trainer. Obviously all the Team Rocket pokemon were confiscated by the authorities. Most likely they'll be rehabilitated and then given to loving trainers."

The mention of Professor Oak soothed any anxiety I had. I was fairly certain that Team Rocket didn't know of my involvement with the professor so it seemed unlikely the doctor would just name drop him.

"What authorities?" I asked. "Who got there first? Last I knew, it was us, the Champion and a gym leader. There's a lot of things that are a bit fuzzy."

The doctor nodded and made a quick note. "Some memory loss… That's right. I'm not sure which agency for sure. Obviously the local police were there first. Then the alphabet soup of agencies started arriving. I think it was Homeland Security that ended up taking charge." He checked his clipboard and then said, "I have some other patients to check on. Any other questions?"

I almost asked one but let him leave. There was something not quite right still. Not with him, but with me. There was a weird… blankness, seemed to be the right word to describe it, in my mind. Like something had been there and then was taken away. I was still trying to put the pieces together when a familiar crop of grey hair entered the room.

"Tim!" Professor Oak exclaimed, his arms open wide like he wanted a hug. "How are you doing?"

"Well I'm not dead… so I guess I can't complain."

Oak laughed. "I had excellent timing! I had just stopped in for a moment when Dylan awoke and now you! Otherwise, I'd have been back in the field by now."

I felt a jolt of excitement run through me as I remembered. "How are things? What's the new generation like?"

"It's amazing!" Oak's eyes got bigger and bigger as he talked. "So many different kinds like nothing we've ever seen! Type combinations that we've never experienced! We have no idea how many came through yet but early counts are putting us at least at fifty but with evolutions, who knows?"

It was kind of like watching a little kid who had just discovered a new toy. I couldn't help being caught up in his excitement. "Like what? Give me an example!"

"We found a dark- and steel-type and a dark- and ground-type. Simply astounding! I've heard a rumor of a dark- and fighting-type too! Reports are coming in from all over!"

I whistled softly. A fighting-type with a secondary dark-type would make it immune to psychic attacks and resistant to ghost attacks. "I wish I had gotten to see them."

"Aha!" Oak's eyes glowed with a mischievous light. "You will get to see them! Sooner than you might think!"

"Professor, I've been asleep for three days. Not really in the mood for suspense."

He just laughed. "Myself and some of my colleagues got together while we were studying the gate. It had gone dormant long before we got there, by the way. We came to the conclusion that it wasn't fair to the three of you. You paved the way for the Fifth Generation to enter our world safely and you had no chance to even try and catch some of them. So we took it upon ourselves to capture you each some."

My voice caught up in my throat. My mind flashed back to fire and white elegance. "Reshiram?" I breathed.

"Who?" Oak asked. He tilted his head and squinted at me. "No one by that name was found with you. There was apparently a stone next to each of you that disappeared shortly after people began approaching but that was it. Simply melting into thin air I was told."

Truth be told, I wasn't sure where I had come up with that name. It seemed like something I should be familiar with but it just seemed so far away in my mind. Like when you know you know something and it's there and you know it's there but you just can't remember it.

Oak waved that story away like an unwanted bug. "Anyway, we managed to catch some of the new pokemon for you! Unfortunately, we could only catch eight of them so one of you only gets two instead of three. I'm sorry, but you drew the short straw."

"Seriously? Come on!" I protested, leaning forward. "How come I get screwed?"

"You didn't ask me what they got." There was more than a little bit of mischief in Oak's voice.

I laid back down. "Fair enough. What did we all get?"

"David got a poison-type we called a rubbish, a flying-type called rufflet, and a ghost/fire-type named litwick." He had to consult a small notebook from his pocket to be sure and then nodded.

"A ghost- and fire-type sounds fun."

"Indeed. Dylan received roggenrolla, a rock-type; drilbur, a ground-type and golett, a ground- and ghost-type."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Seems like everyone is getting fun new ghost pokemon."

"Ah, yes but you already have a ghost-type," Oak pointed out. "They did not. Since you were only getting two, I made certain they were of types that would be… more beneficial to you."

That was an interesting choice of words. I already had a lot of types of pokemon, most of them in my regular rotation.

"Would you like to guess?"

I waved his suggestion off. "We don't have all day."

"Actually you do, you'll be here for another day according to the doctor." The professor was clearly enjoying himself. "Anyway, your first pokemon has been named Sandile and is a ground- and dark-type."

My eyes got big. I already had several ground-types but for one that was also dark-typed, well, I could find room in my rotation. That would give me a huge leg up on psychic and ghost pokemon, namely Dylan and David's new pokemon.

"I like it," I said. "I take back most of my whining."

"Axew is your other. It's a dragon."

Only by force of will did my jaw not drop. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would ever own a dragon pokemon. Dragons were exceptionally strong and hard to damage. A dragon would be a massive boon to my team.

"I take back all of my whining."

Professor Oak just laughed.

The professor stayed for another half hour, telling me all about the other pokemon he'd seen until he finally excused himself to get back to his research. After he was gone, some medical people came in and removed the rest of my wires and tubes. They gave me a chance to get dressed and then lunch or maybe it was dinner arrived. My parents surprised me not long after I had eaten. Apparently Professor Oak had arranged for them, Dylan's parents and even David's parents to be flown in to see us. Once I had seen them, I realized just how long it had been since we'd been together. Actually, it hadn't been all that long considering how long we had been gone before going home for the holidays but it felt long.

I couldn't get them to go sleep or anything, so my parents were there when I met Sandile and Axew for the first time. We had gone out into the courtyard of the hospital to let them out of their poke balls because Professor Oak had neglected to tell me just how big my new pokemon were. Turns out we could've stayed inside but it was a nice day out so I didn't mind. The sun was just barely visible over the tips of the hospital towers so I had to guess that I had recently eaten lunch.

Axew was the taller of the two, standing right about two feet high from its small feet all the way up to the spike-like horn on the top of its head. Its body was mostly dull green except for the darker green that covered the horn and around the eyes and the ring of brighter green around its neck that looked almost like a handkerchief had been tied there. The most striking thing, however, was the two huge, pale tusks that stuck straight out on either sides of its mouth. If it weren't for those, it probably would've been cute.

Sandile, on the other hand, was shorter but that was mostly due to the fact that it stood on all four legs. It was probably longer than Axew was tall though. The color scheme practically screamed out its typing. The reptilian pokemon was mostly a sandy brown color with the exception of its pink underbelly. Thick black rings ran around its body by each set of legs and at the end of the tail and a small one near the end of its long mouth. A black marking, almost like a robber's mask, surrounded its black eyes and I had a hard time telling where the eyes ended and the markings began.

We stayed outside for quite a while, just getting to know each other. They were both hesitant at first but ended up being friendly pokemon. I let Jigglypuff out of its ball just to help ease their nerves a little more. The puffy pokemon was overjoyed to be meeting even more new friends. I wanted to let my whole team out but there was no way Steelix was going to fit. Full introductions were going to have to wait for later. It was only a matter of time before battling came up as I talked to my pokemon, mostly ignoring my parents. I got each of them to show me an attack or two before an orderly came out and yelled at me. Move exploration would apparently also have to wait for later.

I had been told we would only be kept in the hospital for one more day. The third day was now ending. For whatever reason, they had been trying to keep Dylan, David and myself separated but we had managed to find one another by the end of the first day. We understood that technically they were keeping us there for our own health but we had things to do, Gym Leaders to defeat. Eventually a bargain was struck: we would remain for one more day and then be flown out to Hawaii so we could face the Gym Leader out there. That seemed a reasonable deal to us since that would be the most costly trip.

Our remaining day of captivity passed quickly. Our parents, satisfied that we were healthy, had flown back home to resume their lives. Dylan had schmoosed a nurse into allowing us to use a yet-undeveloped part of the property to work with our pokemon. I was finally able to give Axew and Sandile a proper introduction to my whole team, or at least the group I had with me.

Possibly just as important, it was my first chance to get a look at David and Dylan's new pokemon. I liked David's litwick, it was essentially a walking candle that he was referring to as Zippo. A small blue and white bird pokemon, with a single red feather on its forehead turned out to be his rufflet that he had named Maverick. Stinky was his final pokemon and aptly named. If it didn't move, I would've thought it was a green trash bag that he had tied up and drawn eyes on. I had to say that I liked it a lot. Dylan's first, his roggenrola, looked a lot like a round eye made of blue and yellow rock with a black pupil. He assured me though as the pokemon wandered around on stubby brown legs that it was actually an ear, not an eye. Drilbur, his ground-type, was a happy little creature. Black with a streak of blue, a white face with a pink nose and if not for its rather large claws, rather cute. If I didn't know that Roggenrola was actually Dylan's rock-type, I would've guessed it was Golett. The ground- and ghost-type was made out of blue rock, built in a humanoid shape. Two belts looped around its round body to hold a blue square in the center of its chest that had a yellow spiral on it. Where the legs and arms went into its body, I could see a strange yellow light emitting. At first I thought we had all acquired some strange pokemon but then I realized that they had all probably seemed strange when people first found them.

The next morning, a car was waiting for us as promised. The next morning, a car was waiting for us as promised. Before we could get out of the doors though, we were stopped by a serious looking man in a suit. He asked us not to talk about what we had experienced. When the time was right, we would be allowed and even encouraged to talk about the opening of the Sanctuary but not yet. Right now, they still feared for the safety of both the new pokemon and us. We were whisked out of the hospital and driving down the road that I never even got a chance to ask what hospital I had been in. The driver took us into the airport via some back route and we never got a chance to see the name. They didn't want us to reveal anything about where the gate had opened and invite floods of people to trample all over it and I guess I understood that. On one hand, I understood their logic. On the other, it hurt that they didn't trust us. I mean, we had only defended the thing with our lives.

Once we were settled nicely into first-class, I stopped worrying about what airport I was at. I had the window seat and was able to gaze out the window as the plane accelerated and lifted off. Off in the distance, I could see mostly brown beyond the sprawling city. If I had to guess I would've said that we were in New Mexico or Arizona or one of those states. Figuring out at least that much gave me some small feeling of satisfaction.

Gazing into the clouds, I tried to piece what had happened back at the Battle for the Sanctuary together. Things were extremely hazy. I remembered the Rockets unleashing all their pokemon and us trying to fend them all off. I remembered Grovyle evolving into Sceptile and then being wiped out by… what? It seemed like I should be able to remember something that strong.

I asked David and Dylan but they had the same issues as me. The three of us worked together to try and form a complete picture. Each of us could recall the name of a dragon that we believed we had been paired with but how? David had a vague memory of something saving me when I was trying to save Jigglypuff, which I also remembered evolving. We just couldn't piece together what had been there. There were some major players missing in our drama and no one could come up with who they were.

It was close to six hours before we were feet on the ground again. Honolulu was everything that I had expected it to be: a mix of downtown city and resort towns. There were restaurants and tourist traps everywhere. You couldn't go twenty feet without seeing a sign that pointed the direction to the beach. Dylan argued that they were stupid signs since we were on an island; technically you could walk in any direction long enough and you'd hit the beach. David and I ignored his sign fuming until we found the sign that we wanted.

_To Official Pokemon League Gym_ it said in big bold letters and had an arrow that guided us around the corner.

The building that turned out to be the actual Gym was literally on the beach, nestled up to the ocean. Large and unassuming, I would've pegged it for a warehouse if it didn't have the Pokemon League logo up top. Inside was a little more like what I was thinking. There was a much more modern feeling to it. A big, wide waiting room filled with plush chairs faced a receptions desk and spread across the back wall, three doors. When we walked in, the receptionist gave us one look and then picked up her phone.

"Lucas will be with you in a moment," she told us after putting the phone back in its cradle.

It was only a matter of moments before someone burst through the center door. He was a tall guy, tan and well-built. A red bandana was tied around his forehead to keep his long hair out of his eyes. His flip-flops made a smacking noise against the tile floor as he came towards us.

"Dudes!" he exclaimed. He sounded more like a surfer from California but I guessed I was the tourist here, so maybe this is what everyone sounded like. "You must be here for these!"

He tossed us each something. I caught it and held it up to look at it. It was an aqua blue and shaped like a water droplet: the Gym Badge.

"Didn't we miss a step here?" Dylan asked. "Aren't we supposed to battle for these?"

Lucas looked confused. "Didn't they tell you, bro?"

"Tell us what?"

"The Pokemon League issued a statement to all the Gym Leaders, saying how you three were responsible for holding off Team Rocket at the Pokemon Sanctuary. It said that due to your, like, bravery and valor and blah blah blah, you are to be awarded whatever badges you had yet to collect. Seriously, no one told you?" He looked absolutely stunned. "Bro, I would've just mailed you these if you had really wanted. You guys did a great thing."

"How the hell did no one tell us this?" I asked my friends. "Even Professor Oak didn't mention it!"

Lucas's blonde eyebrow twitched. "You guys know Professor Oak?"

I gave him a very brief rundown of our relationship.

"Right on!" He held up his hand until we all gave him a high-five. "Professor Oak gave me my first pokemon too!"

Technically Oak hadn't given us our first pokemon but I figured there was no sense splitting hairs. Then as Lucas jabbered away to Dylan, I wondered if I might be wrong about that. The charmander and treecko I had been given what felt like forever ago had to have come from somewhere. They weren't the kind of pokemon you just casually found around town. Maybe Lucas was right after all.

"So what do you say?" Dylan asked Lucas. "Can we battle for our badges anyway? That's a lot of experience we'd be missing out on."

"Well, I don't see why not," he said, scratching at his chin. He conferred with receptionist to make sure there were appointments upcoming and when it was concluded there were not he continued, "Each one of these doors leads to a different battlefield. All of them are water themed, obviously. You can choose a door and as long as you give me a good battle, you can keep your badge. Like, who wants to go first?"

"I will," I volunteered and pointed at the far door. "I'll take that door."

"Bit of warning about that one, bro," Lucas said with a grin. "That's a heavy-duty water field. Unless you really trust your water pokemon or have lots of pokemon that can swim, I'd stay away from that one."

I pointed at the door furthest away from it. "I'll take this one then."

It wasn't that I didn't trust my water pokemon but I didn't feel like they gave me the best chance to win. Marshtomp was strong but I didn't know if it could be the main focus of my battle plan with only Corphish to back it up. As far as I knew, my other pokemon didn't even know how to swim.

"Right on dude," Lucas said and we headed for the door. He reached out for the handles and paused. Turning back to me he said, "You have a Fiver?"

"A what?"

"A Fiver."

"What's a 'Fiver'?"

"You know, a Fifth Generation pokemon."

"Oh." I had to fight a strong urge to roll my eyes. "Yeah, I've got two."

"Right on," Lucas grinned as he threw open the doors.

The battlefield looked like it had been plucked out of some rich person's backyard and dropped here. A large, curved pond dominated the area and was surrounded by thick green grass. There were a few outcroppings of rocks, one of them probably five or six feet tall. Floating in the middle of the crystal clear water was a circular white raft that looked buoyant enough to hold up most pokemon.

"So here's what I'm thinking, dude," Lucas said, raising his voice as he walked around the field to get to his area. "We're going to battle with three pokemon. We'll each use one Fiver. We're going to start out one-on-one but that can change."

"It can change?" I repeated.

He nodded. "I can change the number of pokemon we're battling with at any time. If I add one to the mix, you can either add one or not but if I take one out, no hesitating in evening out the numbers."

I took a deep breath as I thought about this. It was certainly an interesting way to do things. Now I just had to decide who I wanted to battle with. Not my main pokemon, that had been decided before I had even arrived in Hawaii. I had to take a moment and think about dragon-types. I'd never had one before so I had to try and remember their weaknesses. I knew Sandile would be weak against water but if Axew would be too, then Sandile's dark-type offered more advantages. It only took me a few minutes to remember that not only were dragons not weak to water, they actually resisted it.

"Dude, you ready?"

I held up three miniaturized poke balls between my fingers. "Ready."


	47. Chapter 47

"Here we go!" Lucas announced. "Empoleon, let's go!"

"Sceptile, it's time!"

I had planned to start with Sceptile all along. It seemed only fitting to give it a proper introduction after I only had fleeting memories of it battling so far. It didn't disappoint. The pokemon formed completely in mid-air and then dropped to the ground in a rather dramatic fashion.

When I looked at Empoleon, I remembered a piplup that I had met so long ago. This final evolution of it had lost all that cuteness. It was huge and black, with some trimming of blue metal around the tips of its wings and up its center to form almost a collar. A huge trident formed out of its beak adding to its menace. What worried me the most though, once I consulted my pokedex anyway, was that it had a secondary type of steel which would diminish its weakness to grass.

"Let's show them what we're made of!" I called. "Energy ball!"

Sceptile pulled a three-clawed hand back behind its hip. The swirling green orb sprang to life. With a sidearm, whipping motion it heaved the attack at Empoleon.

"Steel wing!"

Empoleon pirouetted and swung a glowing wing around. The energy ball slammed into the wing, compressing a little. Then it sprang back out as Empoleon completed its spin. My original attack was now rocketing back towards my pokemon.

I could feel that this was a pivotal moment. What I did here might set the tone for the rest of the battle. "Leaf blade!"

The two leaf-like protrusions on Sceptile's right arm fold down as they began to glow a neon green. With a snarl, the grass pokemon dragged its arm through the air and cleaved the energy ball in half. The two halves were unable to maintain their form and blew apart harmlessly in twin bursts of green.

"Not bad, dude!" Lucas shouted. "Now watch this! Empoleon, jump and use ice beam!"

Ice beam made sense since it was super-effective against Sceptile. It was the jumping part that didn't make sense to me.

Empoleon took two huge steps, then jumped to one of the smaller rock protrusions before launching into the sky. It opened its beak and a ball of familiar light blue energy began to form there. Ice beams were normally jagged beams that looked like lightning but this was something different. When the ball of icy energy erupted, it wasn't a simple beam but more like an electric attack. Multiple tendrils of ice-energy skittered across the field leaving ice crystals in their wake.

"Oh holy shit," I muttered. "Sceptile, get out of there! Quick attack!"

Leaving a streak of light behind it, Sceptile easily navigated the ice beams. The grass pokemon raced around the pond before leaping onto the raft in the center. The floatation device sunk briefly and then sprang back up, helping launch my pokemon.

"Leaf blade!"

"Steel wing!"

Sceptile threw its arms out wide as it soared up above Empoleon. As it began its descent, it pivoted into a headfirst dive as the leaf protrusions on both arms turned into twin glowing blades. Sceptile swung its arms closed like it was giving itself a hug and drove its leaf blades into Empoleon, striking before the water pokemon could bring its attack to bear. The two pokemon began to plummet back to the ground. Sceptile planted its feet on Empoleon's bulk and drove the leaf blades in all the way back down to the ground. A tremendous crash echoed throughout the room. Sceptile sprang back from the crash site, landing back on the raft. There was a crackling sound that gave way to the largest rock outcropping crumbling down onto Empoleon.

"That went a lot better than I had expected," I said to no one but myself.

And it was true. Since Empoleon's steel-type had weakened grass's power against it, I had expected maybe a draw at best. Instead Sceptile had easily overpowered Empoleon. Perhaps I had underestimated how much Sceptile had grown during that time that I could only partially remember. It was entirely possible that for the first time in a very long time, I was operating from a position of strength.

"Aqua jet!" Lucas shouted.

The pile of rubble that had contained Empoleon exploded apart. The big water pokemon came shooting out, both propelled by and encased in a big column of water. It flew up into the sky and then arced over to aim for Sceptile.

"Use energy ball!"

Sceptile pulled its arm back and this time hurled the dark-green ball overhand like a baseball. I just had time to make out Empoleon's eyes through the water get big and then narrow into slits as it picked up speed. Energy ball slammed into Empoleon. For a second there, I thought I was going to see a big water pokemon drop like a rock out of the sky. Instead it kept going, still encased in its aqua jet, but wildly out of control. Making a last second adjustment, Empoleon managed to splash down in the pond instead of crashing in the grass.

"Empoleon, return!" Lucas called out. His pokemon wasn't defeated but apparently he felt another tactic was in order. "Vaporeon, you're up!"

I recognized the eevee evolution instantly. It had swapped its brown fur for a sleek blue skin. Pointed ears now looked more like fins and another fin sat atop its head. Yet another fin ringed its neck and a spiny ridge-like fin ran down its back to where its tail had split into a flipper.

"Same plan as before!" I yelled to my pokemon. "Energy ball!"

"Into the water!"

With a graceful leap, Vaporeon dove into the water and promptly disappeared. I don't mean like it was hard to see. I mean it flat out melted away. Sceptile froze, energy ball hoisted above its head in mid-throwing motion. Its yellow eyes found me.

I gave a helpless shrug and offered, "Watch for ripples in the water. Maybe you can spot it that way?"

"Shadow ball!"

An inky black ball rushed out of the water and exploded against Sceptile's back. My pokemon whirled through the explosion and hurled its own attack back into the water. It exploded but I saw no signs it had hit its target. Another shadow ball flew out of the water, the detonation nearly knocking Sceptile into the water. That was the last place we wanted to end up.

"Sceptile, return!" I quickly swapped its poke ball for another. "Time for a change of pace. Pikachu, go!"

Pikachu raced to the edge of the water and waited. And waited. It seemed like an eternity had gone by. The electric pokemon started to wade into the water.

"No!" I snapped. "That's what they want!"

"Pi pikachu!" my pokemon came back with, its tone sharp. "Ka-chu!"

I wasn't entirely sure what the electric mouse had just said but I was pretty sure it was saying that if I didn't come up with something better that it was going into the water. Problem was, I had no idea how to get Vaporeon out of the water.

Pikachu lost its patience and began splashing into the pond.

"Wait!" I yelled. "Don't you know that water… oh, hey. Dive in and use thunderbolt!"

There was a gleam of menace in my pokemon's eyes that I wasn't crazy about as the sparks that preluded a thunderbolt jumped to life. This was about to get ugly.

"Vaporeon, muddy water!"

Without disturbing the water, Vaporeon shot out towards the ground. From its mouth it fired a blast of dirty brown water that washed over Pikachu. The electric pokemon was blown off its feet and came up wiping at its eyes.

"Stick with the plan!" I called. "Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu exploded with lightning. Lightning that missed its target by a fairly wide margin. Surprised, Pikachu let loose with another blast after pawing at its eyes some more. This too missed. Something from the muddy water was affecting Pikachu's accuracy in a big way.

"Vaporeon, come back!" Lucas shouted as he swapped pokemon. "Frillish, you're up!"

So this was Lucas's Fiver as he called it. With skin that pink, I wouldn't have figured it for a water pokemon. From its big head descended five tentacles in a vaguely humanoid arm/legs configuration. The ends of the tentacles were wavy, adding to its feminine look. It even had a happy little smile beneath its red eyes.

"New generation, old generation; they all fry the same," I said after I was done taking it in. "Thunderbolt!"

Another miss. Closer but still a miss.

I could tell Pikachu was getting really angry now so I opted for a new tactic. "Quick attack! If you get close enough, there's no way you'll miss!"

Pikachu shot across the grass, a plume of kicked up dirt in its wake. My idea was shaping up to be a good one. Even with its blurred vision, Pikachu was able to make course corrections until it had Frillish dead to rights. There was no way it could miss it now. Then my pokemon passed right through. There was no way we had missed.

"What the hell was that?" I yelled. "Again!"

Pikachu skidded to a halt and blasted back through Frillish. Frillish even held still just to help us out. Pikachu passed through it like it wasn't even there.

"Ah, shit," I muttered as I held up a poke ball. "Pikachu, return!"

It hadn't taken me long but longer than it should have. Frillish was a ghost-type pokemon in addition to being a water-type. Pikachu wasn't missing but there was no way it would be able to hit. Time in its poke ball would let its vision clear. In the mean time, it was time to see what a Fiver could do.

"Axew, show time!"

"Oh, nice!" Lucas exclaimed. He inched onto the field to get a better look at my pokemon. "I haven't seen one of these before! Those are some killer teeth!"

"Come get a closer look," I called and he hopped back into his box. My tone made it clear that the battle was about to continue. "Dragon rage!"

"Frillish, use water pulse!"

The two orbs of blue and orange slammed into each other and exploded in a whirlwind of blue and orange. I had to admit that it was a bit smaller explosion than I was used to seeing but still satisfying nonetheless. Frillish unleashed a rain of black lightning using night shade and Axew had to scamper out of the way.

"Get back in there Axew!" I shouted, pointing at Frillish. "Dual chop!"

Axew dodged its way through the night shade and leapt at Frillish. Its fangs glowed an electric blue as it began slashing at Frillish with them. I got a little confused when the third hit landed since the move was called "Dual chop" but I wasn't complaining. Frillish was staggered but blasted back with a bubble beam.

"Dragon rage!" I ordered.

"Block it with steel wing!"

I was seriously confused. Frillish had no visible wings so I wasn't certain how it could use steel wing. When the explosion cleared things became clear. Empoleon had come onto the field and was leaning over Frillish to shield it with its wing. I had forgotten that for this battle that Lucas could change the number of pokemon we had on the field at will.

I lobbed a poke ball onto the field. "Ok Pikachu, get back in there!"

"Frillish, use recover!"

A swarm of rainbow energies ran over Frillish, restoring its energy. That wasn't what I wanted to see. Even if it was Lucas's weakest pokemon I didn't want it regaining any lost energy.

"We'll just have to fix that," I said to myself. "Pikachu, thunderbolt!"

There was no hesitation this time. The lightning bolt spiraled across the landscape, ripping it up as it blasted towards Empoleon.

"Hydro pump!"

Empoleon whirled and unleashed a huge burst of water. It reminded me of a water gun attack but different. Not only was it bigger and clearly more powerful but there was something different about the water itself. It was crystal clear, more pure if you will. The two attacks slammed into each other and blew one another apart.

"Frillish, use night shade!"

"Block it with discharge!"

Pikachu's tail snapped to attention. A web of electricity burst forth, encompassing a large area. It had seemed like a good idea at the time. It easily caught all the black lightning bolts and dissolved them. However, this was the first time I'd used it with another pokemon present. Axew was pretty far away from Pikachu but still caught a few stray bolts.

"Axew, are you ok?" I called. The pokemon was clearly staggered but managed to stay up on its feet.

"Water pulse and hydro pump!"

Before I could even look to see which pokemon had launched which attack, there were two water attacks barreling down on my pokemon.

"Pikachu, use thunderbolt! Axew, use dragon rage!"

Both pokemon built up their energy and were about to fire at their respective oncoming attacks when a third passed between the water column and orb. A black orb slammed next to Pikachu and threw it off balance. It was a shadow ball. Pikachu's thunderbolt went wildly out of control and wasn't nearly focused enough to stop the hydro pump this time. Axew had better luck, the water pulse was stopped but the two attacks detonated so close to my pokemon that it was knocked off its feet.

"You guys ok?" I called to my pokemon. They both struggled to their feet.

When I looked across the field, I got a shock. I had expected to see that Lucas had pulled Frillish out at the last second to replace it with Vaporeon who had launched the shadow ball. Instead, all three of his pokemon were on the field!

"What is this?" I shouted to him. "Three?"

He shrugged. "I never said how many we could have on the field at a time. Think of it as a new and exciting adventure."

"I got your new and exciting right here," I muttered under my breath. "Sceptile, get in there!"

With Sceptile on the field, I corralled Pikachu and Axew together behind Sceptile so it could give them cover while they recovered. Pikachu looked none too happy about being protected. Axew, on the other hand, had no issue with it and seemed to realize that except for Frillish, it was in over its head here.

"Axew, dragon rage!" It didn't make a whole lot of sense to start off with my weakest pokemon, but I had a plan. "Sceptile, leaf blade! Pikachu, iron tail!"

My two veteran pokemon were right behind the dragon-type attack. It detonated, driving Lucas's pokemon apart and my pokemon struck. Empoleon blocked Sceptile's first leaf blade with a steel wing but Sceptile reversed directions and raked its other arm's blade across Empoleon in a backhand maneuver. Pikachu sliced right through Vaporeon's shadow ball with an iron tail and then clocked the pokemon in the side of the head with a second. Vaporeon, spun around but still managed to stay on its feet. It was still the strongest of my opponent's pokemon left.

"Sceptile, energy ball! Pikachu, thunderbolt!"

What happened next, I'll never know for sure.

Sceptile's aim might've been off and it threw the energy ball too close to Pikachu. Pikachu might have just gotten a little too amped up and been careless with some of its electrical energies. Sceptile could have been distracted by Empoleon getting back up and not formed a completely stable energy ball. Either way, Sceptile's energy ball exploded way too close to Pikachu. The electric pokemon was hurled from the battle. It managed to right itself as tendrils of smoke curled off its fur. A nasty look crept over its face.

"Pikachu…," I warned. "Take it easy."

I could already see that it was too late. First it was being protected by Sceptile and now it was apparently damaged by what I'm sure Pikachu saw as Sceptile's ineptitude. A thunderbolt lashed out and drove Sceptile to a knee. Sceptile ripped itself free of the thunderbolt and closed the distance between the two in two massive leaps. They stood face to face, snarling.

I wondered if I had made a mistake right from the beginning. Pikachu had always been a bit feisty and hot-tempered. While Sceptile had been cool and calm from the days of being Treecko, it was still an immensely proud and competitive pokemon. I had to have known that they would end up on the field together at some point during this battle. It was a recipe for disaster that I had inadvertently given all the right ingredients.

As I began to raise my voice to try and reason with them, something happened. A ball of energy flew in between them and exploded. It wasn't a water attack or even a ghost attack. It was a dragon attack. The two pokemon whirled to see Axew standing a few feet away with another dragon rage ready in its mouth. When it saw that it had their attention, it let the energy from the attack fade.

"Ax axew!" the dragon-type pokemon went off on them in a lecturing-type tone. I had no idea what it was saying but I was hoping it was something about them being senior leadership on my team and needing to behave like it. Or at the very least, to save their beef until after the battle.

Sceptile and Pikachu continued to stare at each other. The anger was still there but the hostility was beginning to melt away. The wound hadn't been healed but a band-aid had been placed on it. Hopefully it was one of those super sticky kind and could last the whole battle. When Sceptile and Pikachu turned away from each other and towards their opponents, Dylan and David gave a standing ovation.

I made a rude hand gesture towards them and then said to my pokemon," Good work Axew. I appreciate it. Now let's win this thing! Pikachu, use thunderbolt on Vaporeon!"

"Vaporeon, use aqua ring!"

Three streams of water appeared from seemingly nowhere to begin circling around Vaporeon. They seemed to be swirling at random and imbuing the pokemon with energy. When Pikachu's thunderbolt closed in, all three streams swung out wide and converged in a single spot: right where the thunderbolt was to hit. Lightning sprayed everywhere and left Vaporeon unharmed.

Pikachu was beside itself with rage now, practically quaking with it. I was a bit confused myself. The ending of the fight between my two pokemon was supposed to be the turning point for the battle and it would be smooth sailing from here. Apparently I hadn't found the right moment quite yet.

"Block that will you?" I asked. "Ok, try this! Sceptile, energy ball! Pikachu, blast it with thunderbolt!"

Sceptile knew exactly what I was asking for. It formed its grass-type attack and simply held it aloft. Pikachu hesitated for a moment before understanding dawned. Lightning ripped out of its body and snatched the energy ball from Sceptile's hand. Two attacks fused into one mighty one, a powerful current of yellow and green energies. Vaporeon was readying its aqua ring again but I could see in its eyes that it knew there was no chance it could stop this.

"Axew use dragon rage!" I shouted, pointing at Empoleon.

The big water pokemon had been hustling towards Vaporeon to try and help deflect the oncoming attack as there was no escaping it. Axew's dragon rage didn't do much damage to Empoleon but it did something more important: it slowed it down. Energybolt, as I called it in my mind, plowed right over Vaporeon before exploding. Empoleon, who hadn't gotten there in time, was hurled off its feet and into the pond. I had forgotten about Frillish but I saw it fluttering away wildly out of control. All three of the Gym Leader's pokemon had just taken damage. The most powerful had taken the most damage. This was my turning point.

"Pikachu use thunderbolt!" After a moment's hesitation, I added, "On Empoleon! Sceptile, leaf blade- no, energy ball on Vaporeon! Axew, dragon rage on that frillish!"

The second Pikachu's thundebolt hit the pond that still contained Empoleon, I was glad I had changed my mind on Sceptile's orders. Lightning bolts leapt wildly from the lake as it conducted the electricity. Anything going over it or close to the edge would've been zapped. However, a well shot energy ball and dragon rage made it through just fine. Vaporeon was just rising and readying an attack when it disappeared in the explosion. Frillish was floating aimlessly when dragon rage caught it from behind.

"Sceptile, grab Axew and use quick attack! Stay away from that pond!"

Axew had been snatched off its feet before it even knew what had happened. Pikachu had ceased its thunderbolt but stray sparks still jumped from the water. Empoleon floated near the center, face down. I saw no sign of Frillish at all. Sceptile raced around the pond with Axew tucked under on arm like a child might carry a favored toy.

"Axew, dual chop! Sceptile, leaf blade!"

It might've been overkill but Vaporeon was still somehow in the fight. Sceptile tossed Axew into the air. The dragon pokemon landed two blows with glowing blue fangs before dropping flat to the ground to avoid Sceptile's mighty leaf blade. The big sweeping blow was enough to end the water pokemon's involvement.

"You know, a triple knockout would've been way cooler," Dylan called from behind me.

I turned and gave him a mock bow. "I'm sorry sir. I'll try harder in the future."

"Hoo boy, that was some battle!" Lucas exclaimed after he collected his pokemon. I could never be a Gym Leader because I was never that upbeat after losing. "I thought for sure you were going to lose control of things after that stray energy ball but the way you all pulled together was impressive!"

"Don't tell me," I said as I scooped Axew up into my arms. "Tell Axew. This here is the real hero."

"You've got a good one there," Lucas agreed as he scratched my pokemon under the chin. Axew cooed with delight. "Let's head back out into the lobby. Shannon, my receptionist, will get you all squared away with your winnings and digital registration. I'm going to pop these pokemon into the healer and then we can get started with the next battle!"

I collected my pokemon back into their balls and we followed Lucas back to the waiting room. There were now a couple of people waiting in the seats. I went over to the receptionist while Lucas dropped his pokemon into a healing machine behind her desk and then lead Dylan and David away. Shannon got me all set up. All it took was a swipe of my trainer ID and a few keystrokes to get my winnings deposited and the online profile of me updated.

"Good work in there," she said, pointing at her screen.

I leaned over the edge of the counter to see that she had live feeds from all three rooms displayed on her monitor. She had no sound accompanying the picture but the picture was good enough.

"Thank you," I said with a smile. "It wasn't easy."

"You sure made it look easy. At least at the end there. Where'd you get the idea for that energy ball/thunderbolt combination?"

"I've done it before," I replied as I tucked my ID back away in my wallet. "Only instead of a thunderbolt, it was a water gun. Works pretty well either way."

"I'd imagine." She consulted her screen for a moment. "Your friends went into Room Two if you'd like to join them."

I smiled again. "I think I would, thank you."

After taking a moment to visit the restroom, I slipped through the doors to Room Two.

It was a lot different that I was expected. I was thinking it'd be similar to the room I had battled in with land surrounding water or maybe water surrounding an island. Instead there was just a giant pool. It had to be at least ten or so feet deep since the tentacruel that was beneath the surface seemed to have plenty of room both above and below. On the surface floated a series of white rafts like there had been in the pond in my battle room. Three of them lined the two sides not occupied by trainers and there were two more near the center of the pool, one of which held Dylan's ivysaur.

"How's it going?" I asked David who was standing just inside the door. There really wasn't much room for spectators on the tiled floor.

"It was going alright until Tentacruel jumped into the water," he replied without turning to look at me. "Then… well, this."

Ivysaur was constantly dancing around, changing feet and doing anything possible to avoid the myriad of tentacles that were attempting to grab it. There were so many of them that Ivysaur couldn't get a solid enough footing to even jump off its current raft. It was just a matter of time before one tentacle finally managed to cinch in a hold. The tentacle raised up and suddenly Ivysaur was held aloft by one green leg. All the other tentacles suddenly found a hold as well. Completely locked up, Ivysaur was then slammed down onto the raft it had been standing on.

"Ivysaur, return!" Dylan shouted. It took him three tries before he managed to snag the pokemon with the laser with all the shaking around of it Tentacruel was doing. "Electivire, you're up!"

"Good idea dude!" Lucas called and swapped his own pokemon.

The sleek light blue profile of a golduck appeared on the raft furthest away from the one that Electivire was currently inhabiting. The pokemon bared its claws and opened its beak to hiss. Its roughly humanoid profile made it a capable fighter both above and below the waves.

"No time to waste!" Dylan wrapped his hand into a fist in front of his face. "Thunderbolt!"

A huge lightning bolt erupted from the two orb like antennae. The golduck stood motionless until the very last second. With a corkscrew dive, the water pokemon disappeared into the water half a second before the lightning would've struck it. A clearly well-rehearsed move.

"Now Golduck, use zen headbutt!"

I saw a shimmering pink glow that was muddled by the moving water. Then the platform that Electivire was standing on was struck by something. The electric pokemon was almost thrown off as the raft tipped up on one end. It managed to scramble and grab on to the edge until the raft righted itself again. When it had, I noticed that Golduck had reappeared on a much closer raft.

"Soak!"

Golduck craned its jaws open and a shimmering fountain of water burst forth. Electivire threw up its arms to defend itself but the water just washed right over it. Other than glowing blue for just a brief second, there seemed to be no visible ill effects. Electivire looked around, clearly as confused as I was.

"That was certainly odd," I said as Lucas switched pokemon. "Ah, fricking ludicolo."

Now David turned to look at me. "What have you got against ludicolo?"

"Did you fight the ludicolo in the Gym down in the Everglades?"

"I don't think so." He looked away for a moment. "No, pretty sure I didn't."

"You'd understand if you had. Giant pain in the butt."

He offered me a small smile. "I'll take your word for it."

Lucas pointed at Electivire. "Energy ball!"

Ludicolo steadied itself on its as it raised up its big mitten-like hands. The green orb shot out at Electivire.

"Stop it!" Dylan commanded.

Electivire raised up its hands like it was going to catch the energy ball like a real ball. I'd seen this done before. The defending pokemon would essentially catch the attack, either causing it detonate away from its body or forcing it off to the side where it would explode harmlessly. None of that happened. The energy ball slammed into Electivire like a Mack truck. Electivire was taken clean off its feet and slammed into the wall. A few tiles fell off the wall as the pokemon slumped down on the ground. It put a hand to its head as it tried to figure out what just hit it.

"Well that didn't seem right," I said with a furrowed brow.

"No definitely not," David agreed. "I never got the sense that this ludicolo was super powerful. Not even First Pokemon powerful."

I looked at him. "First Pokemon powerful? Never heard of it."

His blue eyes twinkled. "Dylan has his theories and I have mine."

I waved my hand in an inviting gesture as Electivire blocked another energy ball with a thunderbolt.

"Ok, let's see."

Electivire had returned to the water field and managed to strike with a well-aimed thunderbolt.

David pointed out onto the battlefield. "I guess Electivire would be a good example. Electivire is clearly a powerful pokemon. There's no denying that right?" I nodded my agreement. "But that's because it's fully evolved and well-trained. You get that well-trained vibe from it. Then you look at his feraligatr. There's something else to that pokemon, wouldn't you agree?"

I thought for a moment before saying, "I guess so."

"If I'm not mistaken, Feraligatr was Dylan's first pokemon he ever used. I know he had his magikarp first technically but his first battling pokemon was his totodile. My theory is that there's some kind of link formed between a trainer and their first pokemon. If they continue to use that pokemon throughout their career, the link becomes stronger and with it, so does the pokemon. His gyarados would even fit the example. You told me once how it simply evolved and chased off a pair of houndoom."

There was a certain amount of sense to his words. I could even extrapolate his idea to myself. I had obtained Charmander and Treecko together and then caught Mudkip and Pikachu within days of receiving the first two. Yet here we were closing in on a year later and Charizard and Sceptile were the undisputed powerhouses of my team. Was it because I showed them favoritism without realizing it or was there really something deeper like David was suggesting.

On the field, Dylan swapped Electivire for a face I hadn't seen in some time: Croagunk.

"There's definitely some truth in there," I admitted. "Whether it's unrealized favoritism or something else, there's something there."

Croagunk made the mistake of not closing the gap between it and Ludicolo fast enough and ate an energy ball for lunch.

"See!" David pointed excitedly at Croagunk who had been knocked down but not off its raft like Electivire. "Sure there's some type difference there but a First Pokemon would've still done serious damage. We would've seen something similar, I'm sure of it!"

I took off my glasses to wipe some water droplets from the lenses. "Well then, what the hell happened to Electivire?" I slid the glasses back on. "That energy ball should've caused neutral damage at best. That looked super effective."

There was a moment of silence in which the same though clearly came to both of us. We turned to look at each other.

"You think?" I asked.

David snorted. "You've got the pokedex. You tell me."

It took me a minute to look up Golduck who had reappeared on the field. Pokemon trading brick breaks and mega punches make it hard to read. Once I got to the proper page, I scrolled down to the attacks that a golduck could learn until I realized I wasn't going to find what I wanted.

"Well son of a bitch," I muttered. I rechecked the page just to be sure. "It's not in my pokedex. There's nothing at all."

"So does that mean what I think it means?"

Croagunk took a rather powerful zen head butt that left the pokemon dazed and Dylan was forced to swap it out for Electivire.

"Maybe. What do you think it means?"

David nodded towards Dylan. "That he might want to start thinking about getting some of those theories he's been working on published. There's no way Lucas brought up this golduck in only a few weeks. It had to have learned this move recently and if it's not in your pokedex…"

"That means it's a Fifth Generation move," I finished, thinking back to Dylan's theory that each generation gave off some type of radiation that affected previous generations and their move pools.

Dylan was clearly getting frustrated and had Electivire dip its wire-like tails into the water. David and I were forced to press ourselves against the wall as the whole pool exploded with yellow light. Through squinted eyes I could just barely make out Golduck being thrown into the air by the lightning. When I could see again, Golduck was floating face up in the pool. Round one had finally gone to Dylan.

Wary of Dylan just employing the same strategy, Lucas sent out Ludicolo. As the two pokemon began trading attacks, I realized that the ludicolo I had faced in Florida had only scraped the surface of how frustrating they could be to battle. I had already seen one use water and grass attacks but using fire punch came as a huge surprise. Then it followed up with ice punch. With those two attacks it essentially had a counter for any type that it would be weak against except for poison. I was willing to bet it could learn something to combat that as well. For such a goofy looking pokemon, it was certainly a capable foe.

Dylan swapped Electivire for Croagunk and we learned that at least this particular ludicolo did not have a counter for a poison-type pokemon. A lucky poison jab managed to infect Ludicolo and Lucas had to pull it back. Tentacruel came back and looked very hesitant on its platform. Dylan already had Electivire's poke ball ready if the pokemon headed for the depths. Ultimately it decided to battle above water and planted Croagunk into the wall with a hydro pump. The fighting pokemon left a dent in the wall right next to the one that Dylan's electivire had left.

To its credit, Croagunk was still alive in the fight. Other than the massive battles with Team Rocket, I hadn't seen much of Croagunk and wasn't sure how strong it still was. It had acquitted itself well so far at least today. Dylan, possibly fearing whatever the pokemon equivalent of ring rust, opted to bring Electivire back out. It was all pretty elementary from there. Tentacruel couldn't stand up to the raging thunder and in its weakened state, Ludicolo fell quickly to the ice punch that Electivire still possessed.

"Well played dude!" Lucas congratulated Dylan once we were back outside the battlefield. "I was hoping to take out your electivire real quick. I don't think you would've beat me if I had.

"Yeah, what the hell was that?" Dylan asked.

Lucas explained to him what David and I had tried to learn from my pokedex. Soak had indeed turned Electivire into a water-type until it had been replaced on the field with another pokemon. Dylan got his ID card swiped by Shannon the receptionist and then it was David's turn.

"Ok bro, you got to see both fields," Lucas said with a big grin. He planted his hands on his hips. "Which field do you want?"

David pointed beyond the Gym Leader. "I want that one."

Lucas swiveled around. Then he turned back. "What?"

David just nodded.

"That field's for, like, serious water trainers bro!"

"I know. That's why I want to try it."

I tried to catch Dylan's eye as I searched my memory for how many water pokemon David had. The best I could come up with was two. Dylan finally shared my gaze and he just shrugged. He seemed to be thinking the same thing I was: this was a bad idea.

"You're sure?" Lucas's tone of voice made it sound like he wasn't taking David seriously.

"Is it really that hard to believe I think I can win on a water field?" David crossed his arms over his chest. "I too come from a place surrounded by water. Well, mostly."

I laughed at that.

"Besides, what does he have to lose?" Dylan said and then lowered his voice. "Guess I shouldn't say that too loudly."

Finally Lucas just threw his hands up in the air. "Whatever dude. You want it? You got it. Come on."

The Gym Leader collected a few pokemon from behind the receptionist's desk and lead us to the third door. He looked back at David like he might change his mind but clearly this guy didn't know David.

When he threw open the doors and lead us in, it was a bit of a surprise. There was no field. There was a set of concrete stairs that lead down a sandy slope. What was probably a twenty or so yard walk from the bottom of the slope was a rickety looking dock that held two small rowboats. For the life of me I couldn't figure out why this field was so water intensive. If anything, I might've done even better here without that pond in the center.

Instead of turning to David, Lucas turned to Dylan and me. "Sorry dudes but you're going to have to wait here. Those boats aren't big enough for all of us. They're way smaller than they look."

"Wait, what?" Then what he was saying sunk in. "Oh. Oh, yeah. Now I'm really glad I didn't choose this field."

He winked at me. "Told you."

Dylan and I followed as far as the dock. From there David and Lucas each climbed into a rowboat and began paddling their way out into the ocean. Once we could barely make them out in the distance we decided to get comfortable. Dylan removed his shoes and rubbed at his sore ankle. It was still giving him some pain and might have to be factored into our travel plans.

"So where to after this?" I asked. I already knew the answer but I felt like asking anyway.

"Final Gym's in Arizona," Dylan replied as he laid his backpack down to use a pillow in the sand. "I'd say there."

"What about making a stop first?" I asked coyly.

He looked at me out of his peripherals. "Where?"

I pulled out my smartphone and handed it to him. There was already a webpage pulled up in the internet browser.

"Generation Five Tournament?" Dylan read aloud. "Already?"

I shrugged. "It's been at least a week. I was reading some news reports earlier before I found that. I guess the new pokemon have spread surprisingly fast. I think I'm more surprised that they could organize a tournament that quickly."

"Was probably already in the works. They just had to change the theme. Anaheim, eh? That's kind of on the way."

"I figure it's like the start of March, right? We wanted to be done collecting badges by mid-April at the latest so we could have time to train before the League Tourament in June. This would be a mini stopover."

Dylan handed the phone back to me. "I'm all for it."

I placed the phone back in my pocket. "I don't think it'll be hard to convince David. We'll just have to figure out the cheapest way to get there."

"Didn't they tell you?"

"Tell me what?" It was my turn to be suspicious.

"About the tickets that got us here."

"No…"

Dylan laughed. "They're open-ended roundtrip tickets. We just have to tell the ticket office where we want to go. Assuming Anaheim has an airport, we could fly right there."

"That's convenient," I said, trying to hide that I was miffed no one had told me this. "Especially considering it's only a few days away."

We continued our wait in the sand. There really wasn't much to see out in the water. Occasionally there were flashes of light that were visible. Sometimes there were big bursts of water shooting into the air. I had just settled in when the water began whipping around to such a degree we could see it clearly. Waves were churning and from the water burst forth a great funnel. Three flashes of light and a second later we could feel the faint rush of a shockwave pass through us.

We applauded politely.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then there was what seemed to be a huge underwater explosion. The water rose and fell in a high dome. The ground quaked beneath our feet. We inched back from the water as we could make out the huge wave headed for the mainland. It wasn't a tsunami or anything but it was certainly much larger than any wave I'd seen. The wave crashed against the shore and still managed to get us with some spray.

And just like that, it was over. There were no more flashes, no more quakes. Lucas and David must have drifted even further out during their battle because it took quite a while for us to be able to see them rowing in. I checked the time on my phone and silently willed them to hurry. I was hungry.

Lucas docked his boat first and after securing it, moved to help David guide his in. They chatted for a few minutes in private before leaving the dock.

"So?" I asked. "How'd it go?"

He gave me a sheepish smile. "Remember what I said about First Pokemon?"

I nodded.

"Pretty sure I found it. I would bet money that Lucas's first pokemon was a staryu. He had a blastoise that was incredibly powerful."

"Don't sell yourself short man!" Lucas called over his shoulder. "That was a fun battle! You held up well for not being a water master!"

"Wait," Dylan said as he turned to David. "You lost?"

"Unfortunately," he replied with a sigh. He dug his hands into his pockets. "I figured I might. It was worth a shot though. If I was already guaranteed a badge, why not really try to push myself?"

Lucas whirled around and pointed at him. "Exactly. That's how a trainer should think. Ever time you battle, you should be trying to figure out how you can take you and your pokemon to the next level. You're going to go far in this profession." He took a moment to regard Dylan and I as well. "All three of you."

Over lunch in a restaurant that Lucas had recommended because of its traditional Hawaiian food, I filled David in on the upcoming pokemon tournament. As I had expected it wasn't hard at all to convince David. I got the feeling that they were a little jealous that I had actually had a real battle with my newly discovered pokemon and they hadn't.

We took a taxi back to the airport and sought out someone to exchange our ticket vouchers. The next flight that would get to Anaheim didn't leave until tomorrow in the early afternoon. We went ahead and exchanged our tickets.

Normally, we would've spent the rest of the day exploring the city and training with our pokemon, but we hadn't just had exactly a normal week. All three of us were still bothered by our injuries to some degree. Dylan had trouble walking long distances. David, if he swung his arm too much while walking, eventually felt some discomfort in his recently dislocated shoulder. I was easily the best off although I still felt a touch of pain if I let out one of those deep belly laughs. In the end, it was just easier to get a hotel room and relax for a night.

Surprisingly, we found ourselves watching the news for most of the night. With the knowledge of the Fifth Generation spreading, it was all anyone wanted to talk about. Over thirty new species had already been officially accounted for. The rough count was closer to forty or fifty though with all the unconfirmed rumors. The major news networks were pulling out all the stops and interviewing all the Pokemon Professors they could manage.

I hadn't realized until then that the title of Pokemon Professor was actually an earned title. The title itself was handed out by the International Pokemon Research Institution and there only so many in the world. Obviously there was Professor Oak, the most well-known of them all. We caught a snippet of an interview with Professor Birch who Dylan and I had met in New York, not realizing he was a famous researcher. There was also Professor Elm, the Canadian born professor who specialized in pokemon breeding who was interviewed on how this new generation could affect the pokemon population. Professor Rowan from Scotland was the expert in evolutions and was consulted on if and how any pokemon from former generations may gain new evolutions. The final and newest Pokemon Professor was Professor Juniper, the first ever female Professor, who specialized in the origins of pokemon but that was not why she was creating such a buzz. There were rumors that the Research Institution had fast-tracked her elevation to that of Pokemon Professor because her specialty coincided with this extraordinary event. It was all rather interesting despite the fact a lot of what they all had to say was mostly conjecture at this point, which they stressed. It didn't matter though, people just couldn't get enough.

They say that every human generation has one moment where they can always remember where they were. For past generations it was Apollo 13, or the Kennedy assassination, or Nine-Eleven. Now we had the Fifth Generation.

The next morning we were picked up by a taxi service hosted by the airport. The traffic was thick for the late morning commute but we still easily made our flight. This plane wasn't quite as nice as the one we had gotten here on but we weren't going to complain. We touched down after a long flight in San Diego and boarded the connector flight for Anaheim. With the long flight and switching time zones, we had lost essentially the whole day. By the time we were officially in our final destination there was only three days left until the tournament.

The morning of the following day was spent locating where the tournament would be held and getting signed up. It turned out to be held in the home of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim baseball park, better known as Angel Stadium. The team was on a road trip so the field was available for use. So far not many people had signed up so the event staff was very happy to have us. With that taken care of, we had the rest of the day to get down to business.

Business was a little harder to attend to than we originally expected. California was a lot more densely packed than any of the recent states we had been in besides Hawaii. Areas that had enough room for us to properly train without getting in each other's way were few and far between. Eventually we found a park that had few enough people that we could spread out and get some training done.

I immediately went to work with Sandile. Since I had used Axew already, I figured that Sandile and myself could use more time together. We got a little more used to each other and more importantly, helped Sandile increase its reaction time to my commands. Then with the assistance of Sandslash, Sandile learned how to use Dig. It already knew two ground-type moves but I particularly liked the versatility of this move.

After that was taken care of, I left Sandile in the capable hands of Sandslash and Heracross and brought Axew out. There was a lot less for us to go over. I mostly just wanted to get a little work in just in case. We weren't all that far from where the actual Pokemon League Tournament was going to be held so there was no telling the quality of trainer that might be showing up to this tournament.


	48. Chapter 48

The days leading up to the tournament were spent much like our first day: wasting half the day trying to find somewhere to train and then eventually training. It all seemed worth it. A few of our pokemon learned some new attacks. None of them evolved but then again, we had no idea if any of them actually would evolve. The consensus between us was that we felt most of our new pokemon would evolve at least once with the exception of Dylan's golett. We weren't sure about that one. It seemed fully functional and surprisingly powerful, especially when using punch attacks. No one could decide if we should chock that up to some ability we didn't know about or just actual power.

When the day of the tournament had arrived, we made our way to Angel Stadium early that morning. There was a lot of people there, way more than I had ever expected. It was easily going to be a packed house. Not until we saw the bored registration people did it dawn on me that most of these people were spectators and not trainers. People were turning out in droves just to get a glimpse of the newest pokemon. Camera crews were shuffling their equipment around. This had turned into a big event.

Too bad there were less than twenty trainers.

The setup of the event itself had changed since we had signed up. With such a small number of trainers available, the event staff had overhauled the affair into something unique. There were now three different events that a trainer could take place in. The first was a simple single-elimination tournament. If everyone took part in it, there would be two "battle and you're in" matches, otherwise it would only take four wins to win the whole thing. The second was what they were calling a compound battle. Two trainers would start and then as soon as one lost, the next trainer in line would take his spot. Then the next trainer to lose would be replaced by the next trainer in line and so on and so forth until there was only one trainer left standing. It was certainly a different way to do things. The last event would be a contest battle tournament.

I had heard of contest battles before but I didn't quite understand them. They'd been around for quite a while but I never got into them like I did normal battles. The registration staff tried to explain them to me. They were like a normal battle but with points. You lost points if your pokemon was struck, a move failed or when your opponent performed a particularly beautiful attack. I asked for clarification on that last point but they struggled to explain, saying I'd know one when I saw one.

I decided I would not be partaking in that event.

We were given free t-shirts for participating with the logo of the sponsor, Silph Co. splashed all over them. It was a pretty sharp-looking shirt but if you were the corporation that produced poke balls and technical machines and all sorts of other stuff, you didn't have to skimp on the shirt costs.

"I wonder what's up first," Dylan said as we made ourselves comfortable in the area reserved for trainers. "Going to need to pick the right pokemon for it."

"Two pokemon, two events," I replied. I tucked my hands behind my head to support it as I learned back. "Easy enough for me."

"Shouldn't that make it harder? David and I at least have a third option. You're locked in to both choices as soon as you start the first event."

I shook my head. "Takes all the pressure off. A lot less chance to second guess myself later."

David, who I hadn't even realized had left, came back and sat next to Dylan. "First event is going to be the basic tournament," he said. "Followed by compound battle and then contest battle. Are any of us doing the contest battle?"

I snorted as a reply.

"I was thinking about it," Dylan said. "The registration staff said I could sign up for it pretty much up until the event actually started."

David was about to say something when the huge video screen burst to life. A video package played, showcasing highlights from pokemon battles. It was probably the video package meant for the original tournament because there wasn't a single Fifth Generation pokemon in it. Still it did its job though and got the crowd fired up. When the video faded, a tournament bracket replaced it. David would be in the third match, I would be in the fifth and Dylan the eighth. Dylan and I were the most likely to battle each other, each of us only needing to win two battles.

"Lucky bums," Dylan muttered as the first two contestants made their way to the battlefield that had been drawn in the outfield grass.

I raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"They're part of history." He waved an angry hand at them. "Those two trainers are about to take part in the first ever televised pokemon battle between Fivers. That could've been us."

That was something I hadn't considered. Somehow, I hadn't considered the historical significance of what we were apart of at all. If he was right about this being the first televised event, we were going to forever be ingrained in history. Our names might show up in history books for this. Then I realized that our names would probably show up eventually anyone because of our involvement with the Sanctuary and that we were the only people there. The whole idea of it made my mind swim.

The first battle took place between what was eventually determined to be two partially grass-typed pokemon. The first was a kind of cute, four-legged creature. It had a white underbelly with a pink coloring down its back and all the way up to outline its face. A yellow flower sat between its two ears. Eventually a name went up on the board and called it a deerling. Someone in the trainer group also said they knew this trainer and it was also a normal-type pokemon. The other pokemon had a big yellow head that lead to a smaller green body with nubby orange feet. A big leaf was behind its head like a bonnet. Sewaddle was eventually listed as its name. It was pretty clear that this was also a bug-type.

Someone from the event staff came up to all the trainers and began collecting the names of all our pokemon. If we had more than one, they got a general description so they could put the right name on the board. Someone no one had thought of this but in their defense, this was kind of unprecedented.

Sewaddle was the eventual victor, riding its bug bite attack to victory once it realized it had the type advantage. There was a resounding standing ovation for the end of the match even though it hadn't been a particularly good one. It was almost like stepping back in time to my first tournament where everyone was still a beginner. No fault of the trainers but we all just had new, young pokemon.

The next match up featured a purple and black poison/bug type that went by Venipede and an angry-looking blue and black bug pokemon with a sharp horn called Karrablast. Dylan and I placed bets on who would win. I lost because I didn't expect Karrablast to be able to use peck. The entire dynamic of the battle had changed when the trainer called for that move. Venipede had tried to counter with protect but the pokemon could only use it so many times in a row before it failed.

David took to the field next. After seeing nothing but grass and bug pokemon I knew he had chosen to use his litwick and hope for the best. Between it being a fire-type and a ghost-type, he was feeling pretty confident. He got neither bug, nor grass but what could only be described as an ice cream cone with a face. I had to wonder what evolutionary track had led to this pokemon. David, ever the master strategist, quickly deduced that this frozen dessert of a pokemon had to be an ice-type. He made short work of it using a new attack called flame burst.

A lopsided battle followed David's, with a frillish like Lucas had battling a roggenrola like Dylan had. The water pokemon easily overwhelmed the rock-type. I had actually expected the battle to be over in one shot but somehow the roggenrola held on and had to be finished off with a second attack.

Finally it was my turn.

Standing in my trainers box, I drew Axew's ball. Even though we had seen one ice-type, I felt like a dragon was still my best bet here. I liked Sandile's dark-type aspect but its ground-type gave me pause after seeing a majority of grass-types.

My opponent was a guy probably in his mid-thirties. That alone surprised me. He was probably the oldest person I'd battled outside of the Guardian on Trainers' Pass. I released my pokemon and he released his.

"Oh come on," I moaned.

"Something wrong?" the ref asked.

"Yeah," I laughed. "Look how cute that thing is! I'm going to feel bad!"

It was small and held up by four legs. Short brown fur with splashes of black covered its body with the exception of its face. The face was covered in thick cream-colored fur. It looked more like a stuffed animal than a pokemon.

The trainer seemed to take exception to my comments. "Lillipup, use take down!"

It was faster than I thought it'd be. A few long strides and it had covered the length of the field and downed my pokemon. Axew climbed back to its feet as Lillipup stood a few feet away, growling as recoil sparks crackled around it.

"Got some fight in you, eh?" I said with a smile. "Axew, dual chop!"

Axew's big fangs glowed an electric blue and it lunged at Lillipup. I wasn't sure if it was naturally nimble or just well trained but Lillipup managed to each of my pokemon's strikes. Then it came back with a tackle attack that put Axew on the ground. The whole cuteness thing was wearing off quickly.

"Let's see you dodge this," I muttered. "Dragon rage!"

This time the pokemon wasn't quick enough. It didn't take the attack full on but the explosion tossed it aside. Lillipup rolled through the crash landing and came up on all fours. I had to hand it to this trainer, he did a good job with his pokemon. Lillipup came in close for a bite but Axew danced away. I was still trying to figure out what type this pokemon was. The only non-normal move it had used was bite but that was common. It certainly didn't look like a dark-type anyways. My best guess was that it was a normal-type.

"Dual chop!"

Axew took a swing and Lillipup dropped down to avoid it. The normal-typed pokemon then lunged at Axew's feet with a bit. Axew jumped back and then back forward to drive a strike down at Lillipup. Lillipup hopped backwards and Axew's right fang sunk into the grass. My opponent switched tactics and Lillipup floored Axew with another take down.

I was about to call for a different attack when Lillipup exploded in white light.

"Hey, wait!" I called out.

Pokemon evolving the middle of a match was my thing!

When the light faded, the pokemon had nearly doubled in size. Still on four legs, the splash of black fur on its back had grown considerably and now almost looked like a cape the way it fell off both sides of its body. The cream colored fur on its face was now more orderly. It kind of looked like it had a big bushy mustache and pointed unibrow.

"Herdier!" it howled into the air.

"Shit," I muttered.

My opponent had a sinister grin for me. "Herdier, crunch!"

I, however, still had a few tricks up my sleeve. "Slash!"

Long glowing teeth met long glowing claws. The impact threw the two pokemon apart. I called for a dragon rage which Herdier dodged with a tight roll. Axew possessed the only ranged attack of the two pokemon but Herdier was quick enough to dodge it for the most part it seemed. I'd have to win this up close.

"Herdier, take down!"

I had to time this just right.

Herdier was almost to Axew now.

I saw the moment. "Dragon claw!"

Axew drove a fierce uppercut of green glowing claws into Herdier's face. It was a powerful attack, one that I was surprised had been learned so early on. Herdier was lifted off its feet but its forward momentum caused it to roll off to the side.

"Again!"

Another slash of green claws left fading traces of the same color green in the air. Herdier flew across the field.

"Dragon rage!"

The crackling orb caught up to Herdier before it had even finished rolling to a stop. The pokemon disappeared in the explosion. I considered sending Axew into the fading smoke with another attack but decided to hang back. Even if Herdier was still active, it would be seriously exhausted now. It wasn't. My one-two-three combo combined with the damage it had taken from using take down was enough to end the battle. I touched my temple with two fingers to signify a salute to my opponent, collected my pokemon and went back to my seat.

"Felt weird being on the other side of that," I said as I dropped down next to David.

"Other side of what?" he asked. "Did you start losing a lot recently?"

"I mean the mid-battle evolution. Never had that happen to me. Usually it's my pokemon evolving. Sandslash and Charizard both evolved mid-battle. I guess technically Jigglypuff and Sceptile did too."

"Oh." He considered that for a moment. "Yeah, I can definitely see how that would be different. An evolution like that must be a real momentum shifter."

I regarded the poke ball that held Axew. "I think it definitely was for me. Maybe not necessarily a momentum shifter but definitely a confidence booster." I paused for a moment. "Come to think of it, Charizard is the only one that went on to win its battle."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Sandslash eventually fell to Dylan's elekid, I think, and well, you know what happened when to Sceptile and Jigglypuff."

David gave me a tight smile. "Technically, no, I don't. Neither do you really."

"Ok, fine." I waved my hand dismissively. "I don't actually remember what happened but I know I remember Sceptile evolving during that huge battle. Jigglypuff evolved… after something." It actually hurt a little trying to remember."

"Sceptile had just beaten a tyrannitar. Does that count as mid-battle?"

I sighed. "There was a war going on. I'm counting it."

A loud cheer interrupted our conversation and I realized we had just talked through an entire battle. A short one, apparently. There was now only one battle left until Dylan's turn.

The next two combatants were… unusual. That was putting it lightly. The first was kind of like a white pillow. It had a red diamond in the center that might've been a mouth with a black eye on each side. There was a curly little horn too but the weirdest thing was that it was encased in a green orb that looked like it was made of slime or something. The second pokemon floated in midair like its opponent. It seemed to be a pair of interlocking gears with faces. That was really the only way to describe it. Gears with faces.

Klink and Solosis ended up being their names. It was fairly obvious that Solosis was a psychic-type since it used light screen right away followed by psywave. Klink was a bit more of a mystery. It sure looked like it would be a steel-type but it kept using electric attacks like thundershock. It did something else where it shot two things that also looked like gears but there was no way to determine a typing for it. In the end Klink ended up moving on. We decided that it was at least a dual typed steel pokemon since psychic attacks seemed to have reduced effectiveness.

Finally it was Dylan's turn.

I had expected him to go with roggenrola or more likely golett but he surprised me by going with his complete ground-type Drilbur. It ended up being the right choice. He lucked out and his opponent had a pokemon that reminded me of a electric version of a ponyta. Black with white markings, it went by the name of Blitzle. Dylan didn't have a complete walk in the park though. Blitzle showed its versatility by using a fire-type I hadn't seen before called Flame Charge. It reminded me a lot of Flare Blitz only without the damaging recoil. Dylan still managed to triumph, using dig and its super-effectiveness to lead him to victory.

There was an intermission so that trainers could heal up their pokemon and probably more importantly, spectators could go buy things.

Half an hour later, the tournament picked right back up.

There was no shuffling of the match order so we knew what was coming up. Swaddle and Karrablast duked it out with Karrablast riding peck to victory once more.

When David took the field, I suddenly realized the hole he was in. He was battling a frillish with Zippo, his litwick. A ghost/water pokemon was probably one of the worst things David could've run into. His ghost/fire pokemon was weak against everything Frillish could throw at it. To his credit though, he battled well. Although it shouldn't have been, the outcome was briefly in doubt when Zippo managed to poison Frillish and launch a devastating night shade barrage. Frillish clung to life and blasted Zippo with a bubble beam for the win just moments before succumbing to its poisoning. Both combatants got a standing ovation.

As I made my way to the field, it dawned on me that I had talked all the way through the earlier battle of my opponent. I never even saw a picture on the screen. I was completely blind going in but then, I had been with my previous battle too. Axew was proving to be a capable pokemon so I wasn't super worried.

When my opponent released her pokemon I began to wonder if I was going to be cursed to battle cute pokemon this entire tournament. Its body and most of its face were white but the face was outlined in black that went up to trace the ears and down the back to the big tail. It was held aloft by two yellow cape-like membranes that stretched from its arms all the way down to its legs.

"Axew, use slash!" I ordered.

"Dodge it Emolga!" my opponent yelled. "Then use charge!"

Emolga opened its wings wide to catch a breeze that lifted it well away from Axew's reach. Then sparks began to form a current that ran up and down its body. At least I knew what was happening and got some insight to my opponent's pokemon's type. Thankfully Axew held some resistance to electric attacks.

"Spark!"

Emolga erupted in a light blue electricity. It closed up its wings and dove at Axew. Even with Axew's resistance to electricity, it was still thrown backwards. Charge had really powered up Emolga. Axew got to one knee when I saw the small sparks play over its body. Right then I knew I was in trouble.

"Dragon rage!"

"Double team!"

Suddenly there were emolgas everywhere. At least fifteen. Axew fired one dragon rage. It went right through its target. My pokemon turned to launch another attack when the sparks flickered across its body. It scrunched up its eyes in pain and didn't move. Or more accurately, it couldn't move.

"Quick attack Emolga!"

Emolga and all its images slammed into Axew with alarming speed. It had spun around and struck again before Axew had even recovered from the first hit.

"Once more!"

I searched for a counter. "Dragon claw! Throw it in a wide arc!"

Axew spun in a tight circle, dragging its glowing claws through the air. They dissolved every Emolga they touched until finally they found purchase. Emolga was hurled away. I tried for a quick follow-up attack but Axew was locked up with paralysis once again.

"Charge and spark!"

Emolga, however, had no paralysis to deal with. Glowing with blue and yellow electric energy it plowed through Axew. There wasn't a whole lot I could do about it. With this paralysis keeping my pokemon essentially stationary, my luck seemed to have run out. I called for another dragon rage but Axew had to fight for every inch it turned its head. Emolga came in with a quick attack to finish things off.

"Good effort," I said to Axew as I walked out and scooped it off the grass. "You battled well all things considered. Sometimes things just don't go your way."

"Ax axew?" it asked as I carried it off the field. It seemed like it was worried.

"Nah, I'm not disappointed. You're still new at this. We'll work hard and next time we won't lose."

"Axew!" it said firmly.

"Way to go guys," Dylan said with a sigh when I had rejoined my friends. "Leave it to me to rep Michigan."

"Oh shut up."

Unfortunately for us, he did just that.

His opponent was the trainer who was using Klink, the pokemon that we couldn't figure out if it was a steel-type or an electric-type. Either one put it at a disadvantage to Dylan's drilbur. After starting out with a fury swipes that did nothing, it was clear that Klink was in face at least partly steel-type. After that it was just a barrage of dig attacks. Only once did Klink manage to grab Drilbur using vice grip but the ground-type pokemon used rapid spin to escape and go back to digging.

"See guys?" Dylan asked after his match. "That's how you do it."

"You got lucky," I spat. "The same way I got unlucky. You got a lucky type match up and my pokemon got paralyzed on a freak chance."

"Call it what you want but I'm still in this tournament."

I would've found his arrogance irritating but quite frankly, I would've been acting the same way if I was the only one still in.

There was another intermission to allow for trainers to heal their pokemon.

"So did you notice that?" David asked me when I sat back down.

I looked around for something obvious. "No?"

"Eight trainers battled in that last round."

"With you so far…"

"Only six went to heal their pokemon."

"So two trainers didn't heal their pokemon?" That was the conclusion I was getting from what he was telling me. "So what?"

"Well unless they aren't taking part in the next event, it means at least two other trainers have a different Fifth Generation pokemon."

So that's what he was getting at. It didn't really mean all that much since the only Fivers we knew about were in this tournament. Maybe for him and Dylan it meant they should rethink whatever option they had decided on. For me, I was still going with Sandile no matter what.

The semifinals got underway.

Karrablast and Frillish actually turned in one of the better battles so far. With Frillish's ghost-typing, Karrablast was limited to using peck and fury cutter, the latter of which Frillish was resistant to. However after a few hits with fury cutter, it doesn't matter how resistant you are because it packs a punch. Frillish was able to carry the day though, using a combination of water pulse and night shade to put down the scrappy bug-type pokemon.

Then it was Dylan's turn. He was facing off against the emolga that had put me out of commission. I knew he was feeling confident. He thought his ground-type pokemon put him at a huge advantage. What he didn't realize and what I didn't mention was that I was pretty sure Emolga was also a flying-type. His ground moves weren't going to do a thing.

It turned out I was right. Drilbur's first attempt at dig was met with empty air as Emolga just floated away. Unfortunately Dylan's back was to us so I couldn't see his face. He probably had a pretty good poker face though.

"Emolga, quick attack!"

"Drilbur, fury swipes!"

Emolga swooped down and smacked into Drilbur, pushing it back. Drilbur took a swipe that Emolga dodged and then another. Suddenly Emolga exploded into fifteen copies of itself. Drilbur was left to keep swiping at each of them, each disappearing as claws tore through them.

"Behind you!" Dylan must have seen something we didn't. "Fury swipes!"

Drilbur spun and swung. As it made solid contact, all the images faded. Emolga screeched but managed to stay in the air as Drilbur kept slicing away at it. Then Dylan's pokemon pulled a hand back and sparks crackled from it. Drilbur went to swing again and found itself unable to move.

"Interesting," David said from beside me. He stroked his ragged beard in a professorial way. "So it wasn't the electric attacks that paralyzed your axew. Emolga's ability is static."

"Dylan probably should've considered that before using fury swipes," I added. "I mean he had no way of knowing but still."

Back on the field Emolga had used double team again and was striking Drilbur with repeated quick attacks. David and I were about to place a bet on how many more Drilbur could take when the pokemon toppled over for the final time. Emolga was declared the winner and Michigan pride took a hit.

We offered Dylan the obligatory "Good game, good effort" comments when he rejoined us. Surprisingly, he wasn't all that upset about it. He called it a good learning experience and more importantly, he had done better than us.

Friendly rivalry? Nope, not here.

There was another brief intermission before the finals.

What a lackluster finals it was. Emolga had apparently learned a new attack after defeating Dylan. It was something none of us had seen yet called Electro Ball. An orb of electric energy formed at Emolga's tail and then it flipped over and hurled the orb at Frillish. There must have been more to it than just electric energy because it nearly knocked Frillish out in one hit. A quick attack follow up and the match was over. I think a lot of people probably hadn't even made it back to their seats yet.

An announcement came over the speaker system declaring Emolga and its trainer, Elsa, the victors of the first event. After there was suitable cheering, the trainer was interviewed. I hadn't noticed how young she was until I watched her on the big screen. She was maybe fourteen. As she swept blonde locks of hair out of her eyes she spoke passionately about how she hoped to be a Gym Leader some day.

When the interview was over there was another announcement to say that the compound battle would start at two o'clock sharp. That left everyone with a little less than forty-five minutes to fill.

Once all the trainers had healed their pokemon, used the restrooms and whatnot, the event staff gathered us together. For the compound battle they would put the names of two trainers up on the board right at the start and then those two would begin the battle. Once a trainer was eliminated, another name chosen at random would appear and that trainer would have to immediately take the fallen trainer's spot. If we didn't take our spot in less than four minutes we would be disqualified. A staffer got the name of the pokemon we would be using for the announcers and TV crews.

The whole vibe of the trainer group changed after the event staff left. What had been excitement changed to nervousness. We had no idea when we might be battling and against who. It was the ultimate mystery battle.

An announcement came over the speakers that the battle was to begin in just a few minutes. All of us trainers surged towards the battlefield. Even if we weren't going to be the first ones up, we wanted to be close to the field to observe anyone we might battle and more importantly to make it to our spots within our time limits.

A bullhorn sounded and two trainer names appeared on the screen.

It was the trainers that had used Karrablast and Klink.

Klink's trainer was apparently one of the ones with more than one pokemon because he sent out something completely different. Its body was orange and reminded me a bit of a paras but instead of mushrooms on its back there was a large rock shell. It took me a few times of hearing it but I finally got that its name was Dwebble. It must've been a rock/bug hybrid because Karrablast's peck did damage instead of very little if it was just rock-type or a lot if it was just bug-typed. Then it used something called smack down which I heard someone whisper was a rock-type move. Karrablast's weakness to rock was exploited and we had our first winner.

A new name appeared on the screen and a trainer ran to the field. The deerling we had seen before was the next competitor.

I had expected a one-sided battle since Dwebble's bug-type would make it resistant to Deerling's grass-type moves. Apparently I hadn't really been paying attention for Deerling's last battle because it came out wielding fighting moves. The two seemed fairly evenly matched until Deerling used leech seed. With Dwebble's strength slowly becoming its own, Deerling proved too much.

However its fighting moves weren't going to of much use against Elsa and her emolga. On the flip side though, Emolga's electric attacks had diminished effectiveness as well. The two struggled against one another. Emolga was able to dodge a lot of Deerling's attacks using superior speed but wasn't able to return much damage afterwards. The electro ball we had seen do so much damage before seemed diminished in power even without considering the type disadvantage. However, paralysis from a different electric attack left Deerling unable to keep up and it eventually fell.

Against Venipede and its trainer, Elsa found herself in even more of a battle. Despite not having the type difficulties like her last battle, it turned out Venipede could use rollout. The rock-type move hammered Emolga for serious damage. However the damage from electro ball seemed to be amped back up again.

"What's the deal with that electro ball?" I asked. "I can't figure out why it doesn't have more consistent power."

"Honestly, I think somehow it might have something to do with speed," Dylan said after Venipede took another electro ball. "Frillish wasn't fast. The one you faced in Hawaii wasn't fast. It did serious damage to Frillish. It did less to Deerling who was a bit more fleet of foot. Venipede is slower and now it's more powerful. That's the only thing I can see."

"That's all I can see," David agreed. "The only constant has been Emolga's speed."

"Interesting." I watched Emolga swoop around and then focused on Venipede again. "You may be on to something. I seriously can't wait for the next pokedex update so we finally have some answers."

Dylan snorted. "Yeah, right. I bet it'll be years before scientists are done discovering everything new."

It took another powerful electro ball and then Venipede was out of the fight. The trainer I had faced in the first round of the previous tournament stepped in. This was probably going to be a short fight. Emolga had been worked over pretty good by Venipede and its rock-type attack. It only took one crunch to end it.

It didn't stay easy for Herdier though as Roggenrola came into play. With the exception of crunch, Herdier had all normal-type attacks. Then to put it at even more of a disadvantage, Roggenrola used Iron Defense to sharply raise its defense. Now even a strong move like crunch would be less than effective. Roggenrola didn't have a lot of strong attacks to go with its strong defense but it had more than enough to put Herdier down for the count.

Solosis was next and had its own answer to Roggenrola's iron defense. It threw up a reflect wall to counter the damage that could be done but Roggenrola's headbutt, which was its only move that seemed to cause fair damage. Then it attacked using hidden power which decimated Roggenrola but not until the rock pokemon had landed a few shots with smack down.

Dylan's name appeared on the screen.

He pushed his way through the crowd to take the trainer's box furthest away from us. I knew exactly which pokemon he would be using even though he hadn't told me. There was already one roggenrola in play so there was no way he would use his. Golett was his obvious choice and I was right. Now he just had to decide how he wanted to play his hand. I wasn't sure what all attacks Golett knew but if it had more than two ghost-type ones, it'd for sure tip off his opponents to his pokemon's type.

"Golett, shadow punch!" Dylan shouted.

Then again, what do I know?

Golett threw a punch from a standstill and a shadowy outline of its fist raced out and slammed into Solosis. Solosis came back with the glowing orbs of hidden power but Golett launched into a rollout and drove right through them. It bounded into the air and drove Solosis down to the ground.

"Mega punch!"

Its fist glowing white with power, Golett buried Solosis into the ground with one punch. Maybe it had taken more damage from its previous battle than I had thought because that seemed fairly quick.

Next up was one of the trainers that hadn't taken part in the first section of the tournament. It was a guy a bit older than I pictured the stereotypical trainer. He was probably closer to forty than thirty. There was just something about him that screamed experienced. I looked at David and I could tell that he saw it too.

This new trainer's pokemon was one that we hadn't seen yet. It was red and circular. It had big yellow paws and two big yellow curls above its eyes. Adorning its stomach were three yellow circles. The color scheme screamed fire pokemon but I'd quickly learned not to judge just by color lately. I looked up at the big screen and waited for it to be identified. Eventually the name Darumaka came across the screen.

Darumaka made the first move, advancing with a fire punch. It definitely wasn't a speedster, that was for certain. However it was still faster than Dylan's golett. For being a ghost pokemon, Dylan had told me that Golett was incredibly heavy. Fire whirled around the tiny yellow fist as it closed it. Sure seemed like a lot of fire for just a normal fire punch.

Dylan screamed for Golett to duck. It did but something struck me as odd. It was over so quick that I couldn't have been sure but it looked almost like Darumaka would've missed even if Golett hadn't ducked. I turned to say something to David but he was chatting up one of the trainers that was next to us. It was a female trainer so I didn't want to interrupt that.

Golett and Darumaka came together, fire punch versus mega punch. The explosion ripped a hole in the field and threw both pokemon back. They came together again with the same attacks. Darumaka missed and it wasn't even close. Golett sent it flying backwards with a mega punch.

"Hustle," David said suddenly and I realized he was talking to me.

"Hustle?" I repeated as Darumaka clamped down with a successful fire fang.

"That's the street name for it anyway," he continued, nodding towards the field. "That's what trainers are calling Darumaka's ability. It ups the power of all its attacks but lowers accuracy."

Maybe I had seen that first exchange right.

"How much does it up them?" I asked as Golett flung Darumaka free and pounded it with a shadow punch.

"No one is quite sure because it's hard to measure those types of things. Estimates are about fifty percent."

I whistled. "I'd take that trade-off."

Dylan's opponent seemed to be fine with it too as Darumaka landed a pair of fire punches. Golett was able to recover and rebound with a rollout attack that got in three good hits before Darumaka was able to slip around it and knock the ghost pokemon off balance with a fire punch.

"I think that was the first non-punching attack," David observed. "I feel like I'm watching a boxing match."

"Nah, there was a fire fang you missed," I corrected him as Golett stepped around another fire punch that looked like it might go wide anyway and drive a mega punch deep into the gut of Darumaka.

There was a split-second where nothing happened and then Darumaka soared across the field. Golett slumped forward slightly. This battle had taken a lot out of it with Darumaka's powered up attacks. Luckily for it, Darumaka was defeated.

I'm not sure if Golett could sigh but if it could, it did when it saw its next opponent. It was the trainer that had used Swaddle the bug/grass pokemon but he sent out something different. It looked like a white ball was trying to force its way out of a cotton ball. That's really the only way to describe it. Big golden eyes looked out at us and two leaves grew out of the sides. Dylan just couldn't catch a break; his opponent had swapped one grass-type that he'd at least seen in action for one he'd never seen before.

One quick mega drain was all it took for Golett to collapse.

Myself and the remaining trainers all arched our heads to the video display for the next trainer's name.

It was David.

He moved calmly though the remaining throng of trainers. His gait was measured and confident and to me, familiar. David moved with a quiet confidence, not cock self-assuredness unlike Dylan who had a bit more of that in his swagger. I wasn't sure but I was willing to be I had a swagger to my step too. With all we had been through though, I felt like we deserved to have a little confidence in our step.

I assumed David would be going with his rufflet, a flying-type, but I was surprised by him once again. Instead he went with Stinky, his trubbish. It wasn't a bad choice though. With the amount of grass-types we'd seen so far, either would be an effective choice.

The battle had just been declared to be active and David shouted, "Toxic spikes!"

Those of us that hadn't battled yet groaned.

Stinky opened its mouth and a swirling purple orb shot out into the sky. When it reached its maximum altitude the orb broke up into several purple smoky streamers. As it watched the streamers descend, Stinky had a look of pure joy on its face. The trubbish almost looked like a little kid that had just done something amazing. The grass absorbed the purple streamers and the whole field glowed the same shade of purple briefly. Little bolts of purple lightning raced up Stinky's opponent, Cottonee, and forced poison into its body.

The trainers that had already been eliminated hooted and applauded. I really couldn't blame them or David. It really was a brilliant strategy. Now every pokemon that set foot on the field was going to be infected with poison. David was at a clear advantage for the entire time he was on the field now. Only a select few moves could remove the toxic spikes or another poison pokemon. Simply put, it was the perfect technique for a battle like this.

Weakened by the life-sapping poison, David and Stinky made quick work of Cottonee with a flurry of double slaps, pounds and sludge attacks. The grass-type pokemon only got off one razor leaf and one mega drain before succumbing to David's poisonous onslaught.

David's good luck continued into his next opponent. One of the trainers I hadn't seen before sent out what turned out to be another grass-type. It was slender and green with a white underbelly. It had almost a collar of yellow that gave it a regal air and a three-pronged leaf on its tail. It took a few moments but the name of Snivy eventually appeared on the big screen. By that time, it was already fully poisoned.

Snivy proved to be a more capable opponent than Cottonee. A highly agile pokemon, Stinky had a hard time keeping up and landing accurate attacks. Luckily for David, Snivy's best counterattacks were of the grass-type variety. Vine whip and something I hadn't seen before called "leaf tornado", which seemed like a lower powered leaf storm, were of lessened effect against the poisonous pokemon.

David had been pressing the attack but then abruptly changed his tactics. He ordered his trubbish to keep its distance. Snivy kept closing the gap but Stinky proved it too could be fairly agile, well as agile as a fighting bag of trash could be. Everyone quickly grasped David's plan: to wait. It would only be a matter of time before the poison that was being pumped into Snivy eventually caught up to it. Less than two minutes to be exact. In mid-stride, purple lightning lanced up into the grass-type pokemon and it collapsed to the ground.

Even from a distance I could see David tense as the next trainer came to the field to face him. It was the same one he had faced in the previous tournament that had defeated him and his litwik. Unfortunately for him, she was using the same pokemon still. Frillish was still poisoned by toxic spikes but that was about all that was going right for David at the moment. Frillish's ghost-typing made it immune to Stinky's two normal-typed attack and its remaining attack, sludge, was not very effective.

"Run for the hills, Stinky!" David yelled. "Use sludge when it gets close!"

There was literally nothing else David could do. Well, he could technically quit but I would bet just about anything that never even crossed his mind.

Frillish and its trainer unleashed a barrage of attacks that didn't require close proximity, making Stinky's day even worse. With precise sludge shooting, it was able to neutralize the water pulses Frillish was hurling but the black lightning of night shade was too widespread to deflect. All Stinky could do was try to not take any direct hits which it was actually doing a pretty good job of. The little poison pokemon looked like it might cry though when Frillish used recover.

"Hit it with sludge!" David shouted. "Sludge! Again and again!"

There's always a moment right at the end of a recovery move that a pokemon is extremely vulnerable. David knew that and timed his attacks just right. Frillish was caught flat-footed and took the sludge attacks straight on. Most of the energy the water and ghost pokemon had just recovered had already been depleted. Frillish slammed down on the ground only to be ravaged by the toxic spikes again.

I realized right then that David just might pull this thing off. I caught Dylan's eye and he gave an eyebrows raised nod that told me that he was thinking the same thing.

Stinky continued to spit sludge. Now attacking seemed the only way it was going to win this round. Clearly the pokemon was running out of steam but it wasn't going to give up. Frillish got in one more good shot with water pulse before crumpling to the ground for good.

The crowd gave both competitors a standing ovation.

While I could see David appreciated the gesture, he was more concerned the status of his pokemon. That last round had taken a lot out of Stinky, possibly too much.

The next trainer was the one with Blitzle, the electric-type that reminded me of a ponyta a litle. As soon as it appeared, poison jetted up from the ground to infect its body.

David's previous strategy of waiting for poison to finish his opponents wasn't going work this time and his opponent knew it. The trainer knew his pokemon had a clear speed advantage and used it aptly. A quick attack put Stinky down and then a flame charge finished it off. I joined in with all the other trainers in applauding David's effort as he walked onto the field to physically pick up his pokemon. Briefly I wondered if he would be affected by the toxic spikes but he didn't seem to be.

The big screen displayed a familiar name as the next competitor: mine.

"Here we go!" I held out the poke ball at arm's length, just barely secured between the tips of my first three fingers. "Sandile, let's do this!"

My opponent wasted no time as poison rushed into Sandile and yelled, "Shock wave!"

As soon as Blitzle had powered up the electric attack, I saw something shift in his face. The name of my pokemon had just registered in the mind of my opponent but at that point it was too late. The blue bolt of lightning splashed harmlessly off of Sandile. Embarrassment flickered over the trainer's face.

"Sandile, dig!"

Sandile bent down and began shoveling dirt out of its way. It disappeared in a matter of seconds. Blitzle was concered due to its weakness to ground-type moves but other than constantly moving around, there didn't seem to be a whole lot its trainer thought the pokemon could do.

"Now!"

Sandile erupted out of the ground, slamming into Blitzle.

"Get it now!" my opponent yelled. "Flame charge!"

"Sand tomb!"

Blitzle's legs began churning as Sandile began throwing dirt and sand everywhere. Blitzle had just burst into flames as a pile of sand swept through its legs, effectively holding it in place. In a panic, the fire went out as Blitzle tried to pull free.

"Mud slap!"

Taking advantage of the immobilized pokemon, Sandile hurled a trio of mud globs. Each one hit the electric pokemon in either the neck or head.

Poison lanced up through both pokemon.

I suddenly remembered that I was in a race against the clock here. "Bite!"

Charging through the grass and sand on all fours, Sandile launched into the air and clamped down on Blitzle's long neck. The added weight of my pokemon dragged them both down into the sand tomb. I had Sandile dig its way to the bottom and then it struck Blitzle with such force that it freed the pokemon.

"Pursuit!" my opponent yelled.

The lightning bolt-shaped mane on Blitzle's head glowed with a purple energy. It slammed it into Sandile who hardly flinched.

"Oh come on!" the trainer yelled. "What is this thing!? Quick attack!"

Blitzle slammed Sandile into the ground but my pokemon came up biting. The power of the bite and the overwhelming poison was enough to end the round.

As my opponent collected his pokemon, I noticed something strange going on with Sandile. Faint wisps of energy seemed to be streaming off my pokemon like a gentle breeze was blowing a light powder off its skin. Then I saw all its muscles flex and bulge. I looked around to see if everyone else had seen that. People did in fact seem to have seen it to so at least I wasn't hallucinating. However, no one seemed to have a clue what it was.

While I was pondering what strange and new thing this might be, my next opponent stepped to the field and unleashed her pokemon. I examined it quickly as the toxic spikes did their thing and I didn't like what I saw. It was green from the waist down and a light tan in the upper body that ran up onto the face around the mouth. The rest of the head was green, including the big ears and what clearly looked like a small tree or piece of broccoli atop its head. A grass-type for sure.

"Pansage, use seed bomb!" the female trainer got us started.

Pansage held its two mitten-like hands close together and a yellow orb pulsing with light formed there. It heaved it up over its head and then hurled it at Sandile.

"Dig!"

Sandile disappeared underground. The seed bomb hit the ground and detonated. I could only hope that my pokemon had cleared the blast radius underground. There was a silence between us as we waited for Sandile to reappear. Two vines snaked out of the tree atop Pansage's head, ready to use vine whip the second it saw its opponent.

What happened next surprised everyone, including me.

Sandile burst out of the ground and slammed into Pansage from behind. That part wasn't surprising but how far the grass-type pokemon, who should've been strong against a ground-type attack, flew was. Pansage flew across the field like it had struck by a speeding car. It bounced once and then rebounded quickly, looking shocked. Dig had seemed to do close to as much damage to Pansage as it had done to Blitzle, a pokemon weak to ground moves.

The image of the flowing energy and the bulging muscles danced through my head. "Sandile, bite!"

"Fury swipes!"

Pansage got the first two hits in but then Sandile clamped its jaws down on an arm. With a jerk of its neck, my pokemon sent its opponent sailing across the field again. Something had clearly happened. Sandile's strength had increased dramatically.

"Seed bomb!"

"Mud slap!"

The two attacks came together and detonated. The mud slap wasn't noticeably bigger or stronger. Whatever had gone on with Sandile seemed to be only affecting its physical attacks and that was fine by me.

"Dig!" I ordered.

My opponent hesitated for a moment and then said, "Use vine whip to lift yourself off the ground!"

The two vines had to strain slightly but Pansage managed to lift itself a foot off the ground. It wasn't high enough to completely neutralize a ground attack like flying would be but I'd bet money it would diminish the power.

"Ok, we can be creative too," I said to myself. It took me a moment but then I had my idea. "Sand tomb!"

At first, there was nothing.

Then the ground trembled and a blast of sand shot out of the ground like a geyser beneath Pansage. It swept the pokemon off its grassy stilts and washed over it, keeping it still. I saw the sand shift and knew Sandile was about to strike. Pansage was punted out of the pile of sand followed closely by Sandile. Pansage managed to spin in the air and swat Sandile away with a vine whip so it simply disappeared back underground.

"Let's finish this!" I clenched a fist out in front of me. "Bite!"

Trailing streams of poison, Sandile came flying out of the ground. It snapped its jaws down around the stem of Pansage's tree. With a violent jerking motion, it yanked the taller pokemon off its feet and slammed it to the ground.

That was all she wrote. Pansage was unable to battle.

I paid closer attention to Sandile this time. After Pansage was removed, I saw the flowing energy again. The same flex and bulge of the muscles. The best I could figure was that defeating an opponent was triggering something, maybe an ability. There was so much about these new pokemon that we didn't know, it could be anything.

This time there was no wait for the next trainer to step to the field. The guy had been waiting at the edge of the field. I wasn't sure how he was so certain he'd be next until my mind settled on the obvious: he was the last one. This trainer was all that was between me and victory. The training Sandile and I had done before the tournament was paying off and with added strength bonus, I was feeling pretty confident.

Then I saw Sandile's opponent: it was the ice cream cone pokemon, Vanillite.

"Uh oh," I muttered. "This might be trouble."

Despite the fact that Vanillite floated above the ground it wasn't out of reach for toxic spikes. I said a silent thanks for them until the purple sparks played across my pokemon too. Sandile hadn't taken a lot of damage yet but an ice-attack or two could change that in a hurry.

I had just finished my thought when my opponent yelled, "Icicle spear!"

Vanillite took a deep breath and blew towards Sandile. Long, sharp icicles congealed in the air and began raining down on my pokemon. Sandile took a hit or two before I managed to get it underground.

"Freeze the ground with icy wind!" the vanillite's trainer shouted. "Make it harder for Sandile to get back above ground!"

This time Vanillite blew a more solid breath, a shimmering blue gust that started to coat the grass with a thin layer of ice. Not only would it make it harder for Sandile to use dig, I had to wonder if it might cause damage to my pokemon as well.

"Now Sandile!"

Sandile ripped out of a yet unfrozen part of the ground. The impact sent Vanillite flying well out of the battlefield. Sandile's strength had indeed been increased again. Vanillite bounced twice and then resumed its hover above the ground. It seemed to have a decent defense but it paled in comparison to the offensive power Sandile was suddenly wielding.

"Back underground!" I ordered.

"Don't let it get away!" Vanillite's trainer followed up. "Icy wind down its hole!"

Vanillite raced across the field as it gathered up its breath. It exhaled a longer powerful gust down the hole that Sandile had just dug.

"Bite!"

Sandile exploded up from directly beneath Vanillite, pushed partially by the icy wind. It latched on to the base of Vanillite's cone-like body and squeezed its jaws for all it was worth. Vanillite shrieked in agony and began flailing around. It took a few spins but finally it managed to hurl Sandile away. Sandile was slow to get up and I saw its front legs almost give out as poison played across its body. Time was now of the essence.

"Time for the killshot!" I shouted. "Bite once more!"

"Astonish!" my opponent shouted, clearly hoping to catch me off guard.

Vanillite let out a surprisingly loud yell. A black image of a ghost with glowing pink eyes shot out from its face. It certainly made me flinch but Sandile, with its resistance to ghost-type moves, plowed through unfazed. Sandile launched itself into the air and brought its jaws to a close sideways around Vanillite's face. I could hear the ice pokemon cry out in terror as it stared into the toothy maw. Sandile wrenched its body one way and then the other to create enough force to hurl Vanillite around and into the ground.

On the ground, Vanillite moaned. Above it, Sandile panted heavily.

It hadn't been enough. "One more dig!"

Sandile rolled over and disappeared underground only to come flying back out half a second later. Vanillite was launched into the sky. When it crashed back to the ground I watched its eyes roll back into its head.

"Vanillite is unable to battle!" the ref that I had mostly ignored for the whole battle declared. "Tim and Sandile are the winners and tournament champions!"

I let out the breath I had been holding. I looked down at Sandile. "Hey, how about that? We did it!"

Sandile's response was to look up at me and explode into white light.

The main body of the pokemon stretched and straightened up to a two-legged standing position as legs and arms grew too. The long snout seemed to extend even further away from the face. A row of spikes poked out down the spine from the base of the neck all the way down the tail. When the light faded, I saw that the pokemon formerly known as Sandile had maintained its color scheme almost exactly, the sole exception being the now white claws on its hands and feet.

"Well hey there," I said. Then a though occurred to me. "Um, what do I call you?"

"Krokorok!" it declared in a confident although slightly accented voice.

"Kroko- what?" I tried.

"Krokorok!"

"Krokorook?"

"Krokorok!"

"Krokorok?"

It folded its arms across its chest with a satisfactory snort. "Krokorok."

"Pleased to meet you then, Krokorok." The name didn't flow easily off my tongue but I was willing to work at it. "Good work today. Let's do it again soon."

"Krok-," it started to reply and then dropped to one knee as the poison ravaged its body.

"How about we get you healed up?" I produced the proper poke ball and put my new pokemon away.

I had good timing because a reporter and her camera guy appeared to pull me off the field for an interview. She started by asking where I had gotten my pokemon. I panicked slightly because I wasn't sure how to answer. I eventually settled on, "They were a gift from a friend."

My phone buzzed with a text message and then another. I ignored them both.

"Now tell us what happened out there," the reporter instructed me. "Your sandile suddenly got a lot stronger."

"To be honest, I don't know," I said, relieved she hadn't pressed me on where I had gotten my pokemon. "This was our first battle together. We'd only done some training before. As far as I could tell, once Sandile defeated an opponent, it got some kind of attack boost. Probably some kind of ability."

"You handled yourself quite well out there with a pokemon you've only had for a short time. Do you have plans to take the Gym Challenge?"

I laughed. "I actually just got here from Hawaii and winning my seventh badge."

"Seven badges? It shows."

She asked a few more cookie-cutter questions and then let me go.

I pulled out my phone to check the messages I had gotten. Both were from Professor Oak. The first said _Don't tell them where you got your pokemon. Make something up._ I had done that and now I was glad I had. The second simply said _Good cover. Well done all of you._ I grinned. Not everybody got congratulatory messages from an esteemed professor.

Dylan and David caught up with me as I was waiting at the healer's station.

"You sure got lucky," Dylan said immediately. "You got a great starting position."

I snorted and punched David in the shoulder. "That's for poisoning the whole field. That was a pain in my ass."

He laughed. "It worked out well for you. Although, I'd have to say Sandile didn't need the help. What happened out there?"

I tried to explain the best I could when the tournament manager came up to me. For winning the tournament, I was being awarded with Siph Co.'s newest product: a reusable TM. No longer were they one and done. The new generation of Technical Machines could be used hundreds of times and even then they might not wear out. I looked at the etching in the small disc and was pleased to see that it read _Stone Edge_. A powerful rock-type move was always welcomed, especially with my lack of rock-type pokemon.

"Damn dude," Dylan said, plucking the TM from my hand. "I could use one of these. I'd better try to win the next event."

"You're taking part in that contest battling tournament?" I was a little more than surprised.

"Well yeah, especially if this is what they're giving away."

I looked to David. "You too?"

"Ha, no way." He shook his head. "I understand contest battling as much as you do."

"So not at all."

"Exactly."

Dylan snorted. "You guys are going to be super jealous of my new TM when I win."

"Sure thing," I said as I collected Krokorok from the healer. "I'm going to try and find a place to do some training outside. You know, something I understand.


	49. Chapter 49

It took David and I a while to get out of the stadium. Part of it was our own fault because we could smell those really good smelling nuts but couldn't figure out where they were being sold at. The other part was that people had turned out in droves to see the new pokemon.

Deep down, I had wondered if people were going to be afraid of this new generation of pokemon. People don't like change and don't often take to it well. So far though, everything seemed to be going well. At least no one had freaked out, proclaimed a biblical apocalypse, and tried to kill everyone. There's always an outside shot for that.

It was a good few miles away from the stadium before we managed to find an area big enough for the both of us to work. David went to work with Maverick, his rufflet, the only pokemon he hadn't used in the tournament. I brought out Krokorok long enough to try out my new TM. It worked just like they said it would. I popped it in the empty poke ball and when I sent Krokorok back out, it came out of the ball completely intact. Satisfied with my prize, I put the ground pokemon away and brought out Snover. I had been worried that it might have been traumatized after its experiences at the Pokemon Sanctuary, or at least what I remembered of its experiences, but it didn't seem fazed. Perhaps the pokemon had had their memories altered as well. Either way, I went to work training with the ice/grass pokemon because I knew it would prove most useful at our next destination.

By the time Dylan found us over an hour later, Marshtomp had helped me teach Snover to use ice beam.

"How'd it go?" David asked as he put his pokemon away. "Since you're already here, either you lost or it was a really short tournament."

Dylan sat down on the grass and produced a bottle of Mountain Dew from his backpack. "Contest battling is stupid."

I laughed. "I tried to tell you."

"I was on the offensive with Roggenrolla and had that blitzle on the run. I clearly had the upper hand." He unscrewed the cap and took a swig. "Then I look at the scoreboard and I'm losing points! Even though Blitzle was on the run, because it was dodging my attacks I was losing points! How does that make sense?"

David and I just laughed. We knew better than to mess with things we didn't understand. After getting our pokemon back into their poke balls we took a seat on the grass with Dylan. I hadn't realized how long I had been standing until the relief of sitting kicked in.

Dylan's head snapped around towards me like a thought had just popped into his head. "Hey, when that lady was interviewing you, did she ask you where you got your pokemon?"

I nodded.

"What'd you tell her?"

"I said they were a gift," I recalled with a shrug. "Why does it matter?"

Dylan pointed at my phone. "Get on the internet. Go to any major news site."

I just looked at him for a second, assuming this was some kind of joke. The look in his eyes told me he was serious. I pulled out the phone and opened the web. CNN was the quickest to get to. There was a small picture on the front page and when I tapped on it to make it bigger my blood ran cold. "Holy shit."

"What? Let me see!" David demanded.

Once he had the phone, his reaction was the same.

The picture was a photograph of a canyon taken in some desert-like area. At one end was a clear plateau with an arch that had just a bit of a glow left to it. Bodies of people and pokemon were scattered everywhere. Three bodies were displayed prominently on the plateau but with their faces turned away from the camera.

It was unmistakably us.

I pressed my thumb and forefinger to my temples as my head began to throb.

"You getting that weird headache too?" Dylan asked.

"Yes. What the hell is it? Where did this picture come from?"

"An anonymous source," David said as he read the article through squinted eyes. "Assumptions are that it's some first responder rescue worker person. They don't give names other than mentioning Team Rocket."

The wave of nausea passed and the pain in my head faded. "Oh man, that's better."

"Mine passed pretty quick too," Dylan said after David seemed to recover. "I don't know what it is. Seems to happen to me whenever I try too hard to remember what happened there."

I took my phone back from David. Just glancing at the photograph again pushed a dull ache back into my head. I closed the web browser and the pain vanished.

"That explains the texts I got from Professor Oak," I said and then showed them the two messages I'd received. "He must have seen the photo too."

A silence swept over us as none of us were certain what to say next.

"So," David said, finally breaking the silence. "Shall we go?"

We spent the next two weeks alternating between walking and riding buses as we forged our way to Arizona.

Despite all the new pokemon that had been introduced into the world, we actually saw very few. David saw a wild roggenrolla and I saw a single lillipup. We all agreed that we wouldn't catch any Fifth Generation pokemon unless there were several of them. The last thing we wanted to do was accidentally catch the only one of its kind and not let the creature breed. Later it dawned on us that we had already seen several roggenrolla and a lillipup but by then it was too late. Dylan and I were both bummed but not David.

"You're still on that thing about only catching pokemon you think you'll use?" Dylan asked after we had realized we could've caught the lillipup. "Even now?"

"Yup," David responded confidently. "I had no need for a roggenrolla. I already have Steve."

"What about all these new pokemon that we don't really even know about?" Dylan pressed. "How can you be sure?"

David shrugged. "I'll take my chances."

"Better question," I interjected. "What would you have done if the pokemon you'd been given after we got out of the hospital had been ones you wouldn't have used?"

David had to consider this one for a moment. "To be honest, I probably wouldn't have caught a trubbish or a rufflet but since they were gifts I couldn't refuse. I mean come on, not everyone is given pokemon by Professor Oak. It would have been rude not to use them."

People were fascinated by our own Fivers. Whenever a rival trainer asked to battle, the first thing they asked was whether or not we had a Fiver. We always at least showed them one or more of our pokemon but didn't necessarily battle with them. We had plenty of other pokemon that needed to be trained besides them.

What we did do though, was make sure that we battled with at least one pokemon that had been exposed to a Fiver. We had no idea if Dylan's theory about the new generations giving off a radiation to rework an older generation's DNA and thus, their move pool, but it seemed like something that couldn't hurt to try. Dylan kept scrupulous notes on the whole scenario to the point of having to get another notebook when we passed through one town. He didn't have a lot of methods to research his idea but he said continuing to write about it and rework it helped him expand the hypothesis.

With every town we passed through we always tried to pick up a newspaper or catch a news broadcast in a diner or store or somewhere. News about the Fifth Generation was still pouring in, all of it still positive. Humanity and the existing pokemon species were all taking to these new pokemon with warmth and kindness instead of hostility, which everyone knew was a real possibility. The exact number of discovered pokemon was continuing to trend upwards as well. It was now somewhere between eighty and ninety depending on who you asked.

With the upcoming ground-type Gym, I had tried to focus on getting Marshtomp into top shape and keeping Sceptile sharp. I wasn't sure if I would be using it but I tried to get Corphish some work too. I quickly began to realize that I had too many pokemon to try and keep rotating in and out so at the next pokemon center we reached, I sent a few of them to Professor Oak. Jigglypuff, Staraptor and Butterfree would all get to enjoy some time in Oak's emporium, leaving me with six in my team and five to rotate in as needed. It was still a lot but it was at least slightly more manageable.

The weather was easily the best we'd dealt with while walking in a long time. The almost-spring months in the southwestern United States were quite pleasant. The days were sunny and warm and the nights cool but not so cool that we couldn't sleep outside in our sleeping bags. It was nice to sit around a campfire and sleep under the stars again. It was significantly more relaxing than trying to share a dormitory in a pokemon center with a dozen other trainers.

It was a Sunday when we finally got into Flagstaff, Arizona where the final Gym for us awaited. I knew it was a Sunday because ESPN was showing baseball like they always did on a Sunday night. The nurse at the pokemon center was kind enough to let me know that they also showed baseball on Mondays like they were at that very moment. Apparently I had lost a day somewhere in our travels. So sue me.

Since it was late, we decided that challenging the Gym could wait until the morning. I found a comfy chair in the lounge in front of the television to enjoy the remainder of the Mets and Phillies. Those poor Mets, they were so bad. Eventually fatigue caught up with me and I wandered into the strangely empty dormitory to claim a bunk as my own.

The next morning had not brought in any new trainers. With the exception of Dylan, David and myself, the only people in the center were employees. After getting cleaned up and helping ourselves to some of the complementary bagels, we asked the on-duty nurse about that.

"Oh, you haven't heard?" she asked, sounding rather surprised.

"No we haven't… Harmony." Dylan had to lean in a little to read the name tag on her uniform. "What did we miss?"

"The Gym Leader has been absent for some time now," she said as if this were common knowledge. "Right around the time that the Fifth Generation came about, he locked up and disappeared. Maybe it was right before but anyways, no one is really sure where we went to."

A feeling of dread settled in my stomach. "Not here for some time? How are we supposed to earn our final badges? The Pokemon League starts in mid-June! That's only two months away!"

Harmony shrank back slightly and I realized I had been raising my voice. "You can go check it out," she offered. "It's not far from here. I haven't been there but maybe he left a note or something?"

The three of us professional trainers released a collective sigh. There wasn't much else we could do. Harmony was nice enough to give us directions. It wasn't more than a few blocks walk from the center. At least the weather was still nice. That was about the only thing going our way at that moment.

The Gym itself was not an overly large building. It had an unassuming light brown brick build with some well-manicured shrubbery outside the glass double doors. If it weren't for the sign declared it to be an official Pokemon League Gym, it could've been an office building except for the lack of windows. There were no lights on that we could see through the door. There was also no note or anything. In frustration, David grabbed and pulled at the door handle.

It pulled open easily.

He looked back in surprise. "Well ok then."

We entered quietly, not really sure if we were trespassing or if the Gym had reopened in the night. The main hallway was still dim with just a few security lights keeping the floor just barely illuminated. At the end of the hallway was a set of wooden doors, probably oak or something. A simple push and they swung open easily.

Light poured through the doorway. We were now in the reception area. A fully lighted reception area. A few feet in front of the wall was a circular desk with a girl probably not much older sitting there. She looked up from her computer screen as we approached.

"About time you got here!" she seemed relieved to see us because that totally made sense. Then she pointed to me. "You. Through that door." She pointed at the door adjacent to her desk against the back wall.

"What's back there?" I asked.

"Seriously?" she gave me an incredulous look. "Just go."

I shrugged and left my friends behind. Through the door was the familiar tunnel I had seen in other Gyms that lead to the battlefield. A few steps later I was throwing open another door.

"Ah, the prodigal son returns!"

Sitting at the edge of the battlefield on a rock that probably wasn't coincidentally shaped like a throne was a brown-haired guy who couldn't have been much more than twenty-five but definitely not thirty. The weird brown, almost purple pants and collared black shirt screamed of youth. He ran a hand through his spiky hair as he stood, his full height being just taller than me.

"Sorry," I said with a shake of my head. "Have we met? And until like a month ago, I'd never even been further west than Texas. How am I returning?"

There was no smile, just a sneer masquerading as one. "Oh, you've been in this area before. You were here a month ago causing all sorts of trouble."

"Excuse me?" Clearly this guy thought I was someone else.

"You just couldn't leave it alone," he accused me. "You had to go after Team Rocket."

"Now just wait a damn minute!"

He continued like he hadn't even heard me. "You cause all sorts of a ruckus at the Pokemon Sanctuary, put everything into chaos. Now here you are to demand your badge without earning a thing!"

I was seconds away from grabbing him by the collar and doing my best to hoist him off the floor by it. "You don't have a damned clue about what happened out there! It wasn't our fault at all! And I'm not _demanding_ anything! I'm here to battle!"

"Sure you are Timmy-boy." He waved me off. "You were out in that canyon flinging around pokemon attacks like they were nothing! Fire everywhere!"

"How could you possibly…" I put a hand to my forehead as it began to throb. Something was coming back to me but I couldn't put it into words yet.

The Gym Leader ceased his rant. "You really don't remember, do you?"

"You were…" I tried to get out through gritted teeth. "You and the Champion! You were at the fringes of the battle!"

Getting that out felt good but there was still a serious storm raging in my brain. Images and feelings were flying by at warp speed. I couldn't lock on to any one of them long enough to form a coherent thought.

"We weren't there of our own free will," I got out. "We'd been kidnapped by Team Rocket. We were defending the gate against… against…" That was as far as I could get.

My eyes were closed but I could sense the Gym Leader was still watching me. He hadn't said anything in almost a minute.

"You unleashed legendary pokemon into the world, pokemon that have since vanished," he said.

That gave my brain a starting point. Things focused slightly but I still couldn't get a picture.

Then he said, "Fire, ice and lightning."

"The dragons!" I gasped.

It all came back in a rush. Reshiram, Zekrom and Kyurem. Mewtwo and Genesect. I actually had to take a knee. And then just as quickly as my headache had come on, it was gone. My memories had been unlocked. I stood back up and faced the Gym Leader.

"We were just trying to hold them off until you got there," I said. "We didn't even want to be there in the first place. Team Rocket brought us there. The legendary beasts followed us there. Cobalion saved me and then judged us worthy to wield the dragons."

"Huh. I didn't actually expect that to work." He took step back from me. "I'm still not giving you a badge. I don't care if you were dragged there or not."

I gave him my angriest look. "I didn't say I wanted one. I'm here to battle for one."

There was a moment of hesitation as he looked me over. "Fine. But I'm not offering you some crap deal where you get one even if you lose. You want this Earth Badge, you've got to earn it."

I was fuming now. "I came here to win a battle! I'm not afraid of you! I've beaten every other gym leader and I can beat you too!"

A small smile played across his lips. "Fair enough." He began to walk around the edge of the field to get to his spot. "We'll each use four pokemon. Substitutions are allowed at any time for both sides."

"Fine," I spat back. Then a thought struck me. "Hey, you never told me your name."

"Timmy-boy, you can call me Gary."

As Gary made his way to his spot, I bent down to examine the field. There were lots of rock outcroppings all over the field but the actual ground seemed to be normal soil. I grabbed a handful of it, letting it sift through my fingers. It was grainier than I had though. My eyes played over the field. There were spots where the ground got lighter and I was willing to bet that the lighter spots were actually sand instead of dirt. I wiped my hand on my jeans and stood back up.

"Impressive," Gary said. "Not many people think to check my field."

"A guy in a volcano taught me to always be aware of my surroundings."

Gary laughed. "Smart guy."

I plucked a poke ball from my belt and waited for him to start the battle. Instead, he held up a poke ball in front of and above his face and studied it.

"You know, when they first offered me the spot as Gym Leader, I almost turned it down. I had always argued that to truly test a trainers skills a Gym Leader shouldn't be confined to just one elemental type." He lowered the ball and looked at me. "You know what I realized though? Ground-types are some of the most versatile pokemon out there. There's a dual-typed ground pokemon out there for almost every element. If I do my research on my opponent, I can plan out a team that is completely prepared for anything he or she might throw at me."

Suddenly it dawned on me that Gary had been calling me by name this entire time and I had never given him my name. A feeling of dread washed over me. "What do you mean by that?"

A sadistic smile crossed Gary's face and he threw his poke ball. "Nidoking, go!"

The match had started.

"Go Corphish!"

The big purple pokemon was nearly twice as tall as Corphish. I wasn't worried though. Even with Nidoking's secondary type of poison I still had the advantage. Size wasn't everything after all.

"Nidoking, use poison jab!"

"Intercept with metal claw!"

Nidoking rushed forward and its whole forearms began to glow purple. Corphish scuttled forward at a much slower pace. Both of my pokemon's big pincers began to glow silver. Nidoking threw a jab which Corphish managed to block and then swing back only to have Nidoking stop it with a poison jab. They went blow for blow until power of one of the impacts forced the two pokemon apart.

"Corphish, use bubble beam!"

Glowing bubbles slammed into Nidoking. For a moment it just tried to fend them off with upraised arms but quickly abandoned that idea and dove behind a rock. The bubbles slammed harmlessly against the rock.

"Nidoking, use earth power!"

A golden aura swept over Nidoking. It reared up and gave a ferocious roar before landing a powerful punch against the field. Cracks began to shoot through the ground, golden energy the same color as Nidoking's aura pouring out of them.

I didn't think I could deflect this with an attack, so I took another approach. "Protect!"

Corphish threw its claws up and suddenly it was encased in a translucent green bubble. The cracks swept underneath my pokemon and the golden energy pounded against the shield but it held firm. The light faded and sand and dirt poured back into the cracks to refill them. Corphish released its hold on its shield.

I saw the evil gleam in Gary's eye. "Thunderbolt!"

From the big horn on Nidoking's head came a mighty blast of lightning. I never had a chance to react and neither did Corphish. The current pounded into my corphish, picking it up off its feet and slamming it into one of the rock outcroppings.

"Corphish is unable to battle!" It took me a moment to realize that a ref had joined us on the field. "Nidoking is the winner!"

A real sense of unease began washing over me as I recalled Corphish. Gary's words about studying his opponent kept playing back over in my mind. I shoved those thoughts aside and quickly tried to decide on my next pokemon.

"Nidoking, return!"

Gary had called back his pokemon before I could send out another and didn't have to send out a new one until I unleashed mine. He essentially had a clean slate.

This guy was good.

At least I knew he wouldn't be sending Nidoking back out. That helped make my choice a little easier. "Sceptile, let's go!"

"Mamoswine, go!"

Mamoswine was huge. It towered over Sceptile by a good couple of feet and judging from its immense, round bulk, it had to outweigh my pokemon by at least a few hundred pounds. That was some serious weight to put behind those two huge tusks that jutted out from its face. Black eyes surrounded by a blue mask stared out at me over a shaggy muzzle with an upturned nose. It took me a second but I recognized that nose. I was dealing with an evolution of a piloswine which was presumably still an ice-type.

Gary stood there, hand clearly ready to grab another poke ball. Then he straightened up and said, "Interesting, I would've thought you would switch. Unless… you aren't using it. Very interesting…"

Panic seized my chest. He could only be talking about Charizard.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I did my best to keep my voice from wavering. "I've chosen the best team for the job and I'll show you! Sceptile, energy ball!"

Sceptile pulled an arm back to form the glowing green orb. As it did, Gary called for ancient power and a swirling silver orb began forming in front of Mamoswine. Sceptile threw its attack and Mamoswine fired. The two attacks slammed into each other with a fierce explosion.

"Iron head!"

Mamoswine blasted through the fading explosion with its body exuding a white aura. The ground rumbled with its footsteps. It slammed into Sceptile, driving it back. Sceptile went down to one knee briefly before popping back up. Mamoswine was making a wide circle and coming back around for another strike.

"Sceptile, use quick attack!"

My pokemon shot away from the incoming mamoswine. It made a sharp turn and then came in from Mamoswine's left. The impact knocked Mamoswine off balance and ended its white aura. It had to do a funny little stutter-step to avoid crashing into one of the rock outcroppings.

"Leaf blade!"

The leaves on Sceptile's arms folded together and glowed with a neon green power. Sceptile leapt at Mamoswine and brought the blade down in an over handed slashing move. This impact did drive Mamoswine into the rocks which crumbled under its weight.

"Hit it again!" I yelled.

"Ice beam!"

A blast of light blue lighting shot out of Mamoswine's tusks and slammed into Sceptile's exposed chest. Sceptile was pitched backwards and almost completely off the field. With surprising speed, Mamoswine was back on its feet.

"Earthquake!" Gary shouted.

Sceptile was forced to endure the full power of the earthquake. The ground was shaking too fiercely for it to get back to its feet. When the quake passed my pokemon finally rose back up to its full height. The earthquake had been less than effective but the ice beam had done a lot of damage. The battle was still far from over though.

"Energy ball!"

"Iron head!"

The white aura encased Mamoswine until all I could see was a black and white outline of the beast. It then charged right through the energy ball, the explosion splashing off and around the charging pokemon. It had to have done some damage but this thing was built like a tank.

"Leaf blade!"

Glowing blades pulled back for a strike, Sceptile charged Mamoswine. It swung them both together into the oncoming Mamoswine. The two attacks exploded, throwing the two pokemon apart. Sceptile stumbled on its landing but Mamoswine with its immense bulk wasn't thrown as far and landed easily.

"Ice beam!"

"Watch out Sceptile!"

Sceptile managed to get its arms up in front of its face. The jagged blasts of ice pounded into it and to my horror, ice began to creep down Sceptile's arms. I saw Sceptile's eyes go wide with terror just before the crystalline ice swept over its head. In a matter of second, my entire pokemon was encased in a thick sheet of ice.

"Sceptile!" I screamed. "Move Sceptile!"

"Heh, good luck with that," Gary called. "Your sceptile is frozen solid. There's no way it's getting out of there."

I was now in full-blown panic mode. One of my most powerful pokemon was covered in ice, another pokemon was defeated and this guy seemed to have the right attack ready for whatever I threw at him. I was up a creek without a paddle.

"Sceptile!" I yelled.

The ref stepped forward.

"Sceptile, I'm not giving up!"

The ref hesitated, probably only for my benefit.

"You aren't defeated Sceptile!" I could hear the desperation in my own voice. "You aren't done yet! Use leaf blade!"

The ref raised an arm. "Sceptile is unab-"

"SCEPTILE USE LEAF BLADE!"

The ref tried to start again but this time something else cut him off.

A soft voice coming from inside the ice.

"Scep…" I could barely hear it.

A green glow suddenly began to show from inside the ice. It started off as just a small pinprick before beginning to spread.

"Scep…tile."

The glow washed throughout the entire block of ice. The entire thing was now glowing a frightening neon green. It began to tremble.

"SCEP-TILE!"

The ice exploded.

There stood Sceptile, breathing heavily with a look I knew well in its yellow eyes. There was no supernatural forces at play. There was no previously unknown ability. It was simple.

Sceptile was pissed off.

"Uh oh," Gary said.

"Leaf blade!" I shouted.

Sceptile shot across the field so fast it had to be using quick attack. It drove one glowing blade across Mamoswine and drove it back a few steps. It swung the other in an uppercut that took the big ice pokemon back up onto its hind legs. Mamoswine tried to blast Sceptile away with an ancient power but my pokemon jumped high into the air to avoid it.

"Energy ball!"

With two hand Sceptile formed the energy ball. As it came back to the ground it drove the ball into Mamoswine. Mamoswine crashed down, its front legs crumpling.

"Finish it!" I yelled with a wave of my hand. "Leaf blade!"

Sceptile took a step back before raising both its arms. "Scep-tile!"

It drove them both across Mamoswine with enough force to push the downed pokemon backwards.

"Mamoswine is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Sceptile is the winner!"

"Damn straight," I muttered and gave Sceptile a nod which it returned.

"Impressive," Gary said before sending his nidoking back out. "I thought for certain I had you there."

"You wish," I snapped back. "You may think you've got me figured out but I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve."

"Oh, you mean your marshtomp?"

I won't lie, I almost peed a little at that moment.

This guy seemed to know every pokemon I might use. He had a counter ready for all of them. Ancient power or thunderbolt were his weapons had I brought in Charizard. Icebeam was effective against Sceptile as well as a number of my other pokemon. Someone had told him the pokemon I liked to use, there was no other way.

Sceptile met my gaze at that moment. It gave me a slow, almost imperceptive nod. It seemed to understand exactly what was happening. The grass pokemon knew I was going to need absolutely everything it could give me and it was ready to give it.

"Sceptile, energy ball!"

Sceptile formed and threw the ball faster than I'd ever seen it before.

"Thunderbolt!"

The electric attack was still quick enough to deflect my attack through. It was also enough of a distraction that Sceptile was able to close the gap between it and its opponent.

"Leaf blade!"

Sceptile had landed one good hit before Gary shouted, "Poison jab!"

Each of the following leaf blade strikes was countered with a poison jab. Each time the two attacks clashed, small bolts of green and purple energy shot out. After a flurry of strikes Sceptile began to falter. Each exchange began to force my pokemon back.

Then I saw it.

Sceptile erupted in green energy. The aura swept over my pokemon and suddenly it was Nidoking that was being forced back. Even with the boost of Overgrow Sceptile wasn't going to be strong enough to take on the completely fresh Nidoking. I watched as Sceptile slid to the side and pounded Nidoking with an energy ball. Even that wasn't going to be enough.

"Grab it!" Gary shouted suddenly.

Nidoking snatched one of Sceptile's fists and forced it to a stop. When Sceptile tried to swing its other arm around to bring its leaf blade to bare, Nidoking managed to get its other arm in front of it to force that arm to a halt as well. The two pokemon struggle against each other.

"Now!" Gary ordered. "Mega horn!"

The horn on Nidoking's forehead glowed a furious white and increased in size. It forced Sceptile's arms further apart and then drove the horn directly into Sceptile's chest. Nidoking charge, driving Sceptile back. Claws dug into the soft dirt and left long trails as my pokemon was forced back. Nidoking's horn lost its glow and it jumped backwards. Sceptile collapsed down to one knee.

"Sceptile, return!"

The pokemon probably could've given me more but there was no sense. It had given enough. There was no reason to continue to force it to battle.

"Good work," I said to the pokemon inside its ball. "It's someone else's turn. Marshtomp, go!"

Gary smiled. "Ah, there it is."

"You sure seem to think you know everything," I said.

"I know enough."

"Let's find out. Ice beam!"

"Thunderbolt!"

Light blue and yellow lighting slammed into each other. The two attacks swirled around and pounded the rocks and ground. They finally overwhelmed themselves and the two attacks dissolved.

"You're going to have to do better than that," Gary said with a grin.

"So are you." I crossed my arms over my chest. "So are you."

Then I did the last thing he expected: nothing.

When Marshtomp crossed its arms over its chest and didn't move did Gary show any sign of emotion. It wasn't much but I caught a flicker of annoyance. Clearly his strategy was to just counter whatever I threw at him. He knew that not only was he at a type disadvantage but I had seriously neutered Nidoking's moves. Thunderbolt was useless and poison jab was diminished in effect.

Then Gary smiled again. "Mega horn!"

Probably should've seen that one coming.

"Take down!"

The two pokemon crashed into each other and Marshtomp was knocked to the side. Clearly I wasn't going to overpower Nidoking. We'd just have to finesse our way through this one.

Marshtomp rolled quickly back up to its feet and I shouted. "Ice beam! Right at the tail!"

Nidoking tried to turn but wasn't quick enough. The ice beam caught just the tip of the poison pokemon's tail. The beam was focused enough that the ice formed quickly. Quick enough that the ice grafted to the ground too. For at least a moment, Nidoking was stuck in place.

"Break loose!" Gary ordered.

"Muddy water!"

Nidoking's tail was powerful and easily shattered the ice. Marshtomp was faster though. A huge wave of dirty water swept over Nidoking. It lifted the pokemon and sent it crashing to the ground. To its credit though, Nidoking got right back up. There was a little less pep in its step though. I had a hunch there might be even less in its tank than it was letting on. After taking shots from Corphish, Sceptile and now Marshtomp, there was no way it could have much left.

"Earth power!" Gary shouted.

Imbued with the golden aura, Nidoking slammed its fist into the ground.

"Get moving Marshtomp!"

Marshtomp began scampering across the field trying to avoid the cracks and their golden energy. Enraged, Nidoking slammed another fist into the ground to create even more cracks. Marshtomp hopped up onto one of the piles of rocks. A crack found its way to the rocks and the whole bunch of them shattered. Marshtomp dove off before it could get trapped. I saw it wince as it dove over one of the cracks and the gold energy washed over it.

"Again!" Gary shouted.

"Mud bomb!"

Marshtomp had good aim. The big blast of mud slammed into the ground right where Nidoking was about to punch. It didn't seem like much until the golden energy didn't permeate the ground.

I saw my moment. "Now! Ice beam!"

The trio of the light blue bolts kicked Nidoking right off its feet. There was a thin sheet of ice on Nidoking's chest as it slid to a stop in front of Gary. It had taken a huge gouge out of the ground where it had landed first before bouncing once.

"Nidoking is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Marshtomp is the winner!"

"Not too shabby," Gary said with a whistle. "You dealt with Nidoking better than I expected. But let's see how you handle this! Hippowdon!"

I'd seen a hippowdon before but this one looked like it was right out of a nightmare. It was still extremely large with four thick legs and a long face with huge jaws. There were still the holes on its back that I knew sand leaked out from and the angry red eyes. But instead of being yellow with some black, this creature was solid black.

I licked my lips and said, "It's cool. We got this."

"I like your confidence. Stone edge!"

Two groups of small white orbs sparked into life and began circling Hippowdon. It only took a moment for them to turn into long, sharp rocks and then for them to launch at Marshtomp. My pokemon tried to dodge but it wasn't quick enough. At least half the stones tore across it and sent it spinning to the ground.

"Dig!" Gary shouted.

Hippowdon seemed to just fall forward. Instead of stopping when it hit the ground, it just slipped into the ground. Marshtomp scrambled up to its feet and started hopping around, hoping to catch some sign where Gary's pokemon might emerge. I never saw a sign and Marshtomp certainly didn't. Hippowdon exploded out of the ground and sent my pokemon tumbling across the field.

"Get up Marshtomp! Muddy water!"

But Hippowdon was already back underground.

"Up on the rocks!" I ordered.

The theory at least was that we'd have a better chance at seeing Hippowdon before it was able to attack. Marshtomp clambered up to the top of the tallest group of rocks it could find. It leaned off the top, hanging on by one arm with its feet pressed to the side of the largest rock.

"Stone edge!"

Sharp edged stones exploded out of the ground. They pounded into Marshtomp and its perch. Both crumbled to the ground. Marshtomp was now half buried in a pile of rubble. The ground trembled and Hippowdon came tearing out.

"Crunch!"

After plowing into Marshtomp, Hippowdon clamped down on my pokemon's leg. It swung it around once before slamming my marshtomp into the ground, back into the same pile of rubble it had just plucked it out from. I could barely see my pokemon now.

"Stone edge!"

Hippowdon jumped back and blasted Marshtomp with stones again. I could only hope that the pile of rubble it was already in helped shield my pokemon somewhat. There was no sign of Marshtomp at all now. The referee inched onto the field, unsure if he should call the match.

"Marshtomp?" I called warily. "Marshtomp?"

A single pebble trickled down the pile that covered my pokemon.

"Marshtomp, use muddy water!"

Nothing happened.

Then a few more pebbles rolled down the rubble pile. Then a few more. The whole pile trembled. A small stream of water shot out like a jet. Then another. And another. And a bunch more. The streams got bigger and bigger.

The water turned white and the rubble pile exploded.

What emerged from the wreckage was not Marshtomp.

It was Swampert.

Double fins crested its head along with double orange spikes on both cheeks. A huge fin was now its tail. Big thick arms and legs carried the powerful body. Huge fingers dug into the soil as it stared down Hippowdon.

"Well now," I said with a grin. "Isn't this fun?"

For the first time today, Gary frowned. "Stone edge!"

"Ice beam!"

Swampert blasted the icy lightning out of its mouth. It swept over the incoming stones, coating them with a thick layer of ice. The extra weight was too much and they all crashed harmlessly to the ground several feet in front of Swampert.

"Take down!"

Streaming white energy, Swampert plowed into Hippowdon. Hippowdon turned the impact in its favor and disappeared back underground as it landed. Swampert charged to the spot where Hippowdon had just dug into.

"Muddy water!"

Swampert jammed its head as far into the hole as it could and unleashed a torrent of dirty water. The ground trembled and suddenly a geyser erupted in the middle of the field. The jet of water carried Hippowdon into the air. It managed to roll off and crashed to the ground. I thought we might've struck the decisive blow but Hippowdon chugged back to its feet and vanished back under the ground.

"Muddy water down the hole again!" I shouted. "We can keep this up all day!"

As Swampert peered down the hole, Gary yelled, "Stone edge!"

A barrage of stones came flying out of the hole. Somehow Hippowdon had gotten itself turned around and was facing the surface. Swampert took the majority of the attack in the head and chest, pitching the pokemon head over heels. I grimaced as Swampert slowly pushed itself back up. Even with its evolutionary power boost, my pokemon was taking way too much damage to stay out there much longer.

"Crunch!"

Huge jaws suddenly protruded from the ground and snapped shut on Swampert's arm. My pokemon roared in pain. Hippowdon reversed directions and slammed my pokemon into the ground as it churned its way deeper into the earth.

Swampert looked at me as it pushed its way back up. I gave it a helpless look.

"I'm open to suggestions at this point," I called to it.

"Swamp!"

Swampert rose up on its back legs and pulled a fist back. With a roar of "Swam-pert!" it drove its fist into the ground. The resulting tremor nearly knocked Gary, the referee and me off our feet. I heard Hippowdon roar and come flying out of the ground. It crashed hard and rolled once before coming slowly back up to its feet.

"Swampert, you learned earthquake!" I exclaimed. "Why didn't you say something earlier?!"

"Swamp." The pokemon just gave me a thumbs-up sign.

"Well now, this certainly changes things," Gary mused.

"Damned right it does," I grunted. "Ice beam!"

Hippowdon tried to get a stone edge up in time to block the ice attack but the stones weren't focused enough. The ice beam sent the few that got in its way tumbling away before the brunt of the attack pounded into Gary's pokemon. Hippowdon was toppled over and was slow to get backup.

Attacks were beginning to add up. Swampert had been hit with a lot of attacks but many of them were of reduced effectiveness. Hippowdon had been hit with far fewer although they were mostly super-effective. If not for Swampert's miracle evolution, I would have guessed the odds were not in my favor. Now though they might be even… or even in my favor.

"Muddy water!" I shouted.

"Stone edge!" Gary countered.

Stone edge might've been able to block a lot of things but not a giant wall of dirty brown water. The stones slipped right through it, altering their courses somewhat. Marshtomp still took a few hits but it was nothing compared to what hit Hippowdon. The wave crashed down on the ground pokemon, pounding it into the ground, before swelling up and lifting it into the sky. The hippowdon came crashing back down atop one of the few remaining rock outcroppings.

"Get up!" Both Gary and I yelled.

"Ice beam!"

"Stone edge!"

Swampert was up first. The ice beam struck with a ferocious power, driving Hippowdon back across the field. It tried to stay upright and launch its stone edge. The rocks all went wide. Ice began to creep over its body and it attempted to lurch away from the ice beam.

"Oh no you don't!" I shouted. "Take down!"

Swampert's strike was brutal and efficient.

"Hippowdon is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Swampert is the winner!"

I breathed a sigh of relief. I'm pretty sure Swampert did as well.

"You certainly earned that one," Gary admitted. "You've put up quite a fight, more than I expected to be frank."

"Glad I'm not a disappointment," I muttered.

"The question will be, can you deal with what I have left?" he asked. "Your swampert has seen more than its share of damage. I'm curious to see what your final pokemon is. Clearly not your charizard, you would've used it already. Staraptor perhaps? Gengar?"

The amount of information this guy had on my team was incredibly unnerving. He seemed to not only know my entire team but had a good idea of what kind of attacks they were bringing to the table. I'd have to address those issues after the battle.

"My money is on either Gengar or Heracross," he kept saying. "You've already used all your pokemon that have type advantages against my ground-types. Personally, I'm a little disappointed you didn't use one of them earlier. I taught Hippowdon to use thunder fang specifically for this battle and I didn't even get to use it!"

"My deepest apologies."

He grinned at my sarcasm. "No need for apologies, the best is yet to come. Flygon, go!"

I had never seen a flygon in person. It was a lot bigger than I thought it would be. Granted the antennae on its head added at least a foot. The wingspan of the rhombus-shaped wings was impressive. The little green claws looked like they were probably pretty sharp and I knew all about the red-lensed goggles served to keep sand out of its eyes. It was a dragon pokemon and a ground pokemon but I had this nagging feeling that I was forgetting something else about it.

"Earthquake, Swamper!" I shouted.

Swampert slammed its fist into the ground and a mighty shockwave rippled across the ground. Flygon flapped its wings once and was off the ground. The shockwave passed underneath it, leaving the pokemon unharmed.

"Ah, shit. That was it." I marveled at my stupidity. Flygon had wings. It was right in front of me. Ground attacks would be useless. "Use ice beam instead!"

Flygon was a lot faster than I thought it'd be. Swampert tried to track it with its ice beam but the dragon pokemon was able to easily stay out in front of it. The beam left chunks of ice all over the walls as Swampert chased Flygon all around the arena with it. A lucky guess and quick re-aim allowed Swampert to get a glancing blow and I do mean glancing.

"Flygon, use dragon pulse!"

Flygon's long neck swiveled and then whipped forward as it shot the purple orb out of its mouth. It clashed with the ice beam before exploding and neutralizing the ice attack.

"Muddy water!" I yelled.

Swampert produced a huge wave that came crashing down towards Flygon. To my surprise, Flygon flew right through it. There was no way it hadn't taken damage but I guess it had to be better than letting the wave slam down on it.

"Finish it!" Gary shouted. "Solar beam!"

Flygon drifted up towards the ceiling as its wings began to glow. The more light they absorbed, the brighter they got. This was going to be devastating.

"Ice beam! Take out Flygon before it can attack!"

Swampert reared back and fired its ice beam. It pounded into Flygon to force the pokemon back. Then Flygon fired. The huge beam cut right through the ice beam.

"Get out of there Swampert!" I screamed at my pokemon.

With a lunge, Swampert managed to avoid the main impact. The explosion and subsequent shockwave still pounded into my pokemon. It crashed hard to the ground, black patches of soot coating its skin. On trembling arms and legs, Swampert still somehow managed to get back up.

"Swampert, return!" I ordered. "You've done enough today."

"Well then," Gary said, "what'll it be? Is Sceptile coming back or are you going to break out your mysterious fourth pokemon?"

I held up a poke ball before my face. "I'm never one to disappoint. Go!"


	50. Chapter 50

From seemingly out of nowhere, the wind began to pick up. The temperature dropped and dropped quickly. Clouds began to roll across the field.

Gary blinked several times. Then he frowned. "Uh oh."

"What's the matter?" I said as my confidence started to come back. "Snover not in your records? No plan for this contingency?"

"Don't start your celebration just yet." He paused. "Dragon claw!"

Flygon came soaring in with its front claws glowing a blue-green.

"Ice shard!"

Snover lifted its green and white arms above its head. A light blue orb formed there and quickly froze into a chunk of ice. Snover hurled it at the incoming Flygon. Flygon was certainly quick but this attack was quicker. The ice shard crashed into the dragon's left shoulder and shattered. Flygon was knocked off course but managed to recover. It raked its glowing claws across my pokemon's body. Snover responded by head butting the pokemon with its massive head. As the flygon staggered back, a trio of small pieces of hail slammed into its back.

"Razor leaf!" I shouted.

Throwing an arm out, Snover sent a hail of spinning leaves at Flygon. It deflected the attack with a dragon pulse and then produced a golden aura that it turned into earth power. Snover was stuck on the ground and had to endure the attack. It withstood the ground attack better than I could've ever hoped. We counterattacked with an ice beam that found its mark and knocked Flygon from the air.

"Razor leaf again!" I ordered. "Get it while it's down!"

Snover used both arms this time and produced a huge cloud of razor leaves. Flygon had no choice but to suffer through the first wave. The second wave it blasted apart using solar beam. The yellowish-white beam cut through the spinning leaves and exploded against my pokemon. Snover was thrown across the field but was quickly back up on its stubby little feet. The beam was noticeably smaller but still powerful.

"Get in there with dragon claw!" Gary shouted.

I waited until Flygon was almost within striking distance before yelling, "Ice shard!"

Snover swung the ice shard right down on Flygon's head. The shattering impact drove the dragon pokemon into the ground.

"Dammit," I muttered as Flygon crawled out of the hole I'd just put it in. "Stay down already!"

My pokemon definitely had the type advantage but it seemed to be falling short in the experience category so far. Flygon just seemed to be shrugging off all the attacks I'd thrown at it. No doubt it had sustained considerable damage but it wasn't showing it yet as it launched another dragon pulse that Snover had to dive out of the way of.

"Keep it on the run!" Gary ordered.

Snover was doing its best to scamper around the field and take cover behind the remaining rock outcroppings before Flygon blew them apart with dragon pulses, all the while ignoring the hail that was pelting it. I noticed very quickly that Snover was losing speed. It wasn't built for constant movement like this. Or at least I hadn't trained it for it.

"Stop!" I bellowed.

To my surprise, Snover stopped on a dime. Flygon's dragon pulse exploded right where Snover should've ended up in the next few seconds. We'd just made ourselves an opening.

"Ice beam!"

Flygon had been readying another dragon pulse and was unable to defend against the jagged blue beam. It was a good handful of seconds before the dragon pokemon was able to get off its pulse which succeeded in destroying the ice beam. Flecks of ice were sprinkled across Flygon's body. That last ice beam had done serious damage. Now we were making progress.

Gary made a growling noise and then yelled, "Dragon claw!"

"Keep it at a distance with razor leaf!"

Snover sprayed the field with razor leaves. At first Flygon was content to try and dodge as it shortened the distance between the two pokemon. Then aggravation kicked in and it just plowed right through the storm. Blue-green claws were raked across Snover, first in a downward angle and then more of an uppercut that sent Snover sprawling.

A thought flashed through my mind as Snover slowly got back up. Both Swampert and Sceptile had been in their poke balls for a while. Either one should be able to battle again if called upon. The battle with Snover wasn't going poorly though. On the contrary, it was going better than I expected but this flygon still had a bit of fight left.

I decided to stick with Snover for now. "Ice beam!"

"Dodge it and then earth power!"

Flygon took a wide loop around the ice beam as it built up its golden aura. It spun head over heels in the air to slam its tail down and release the attack. Snover was able to tag Flygon quickly with the ice beam before having to run for it. The cracks and the golden energy they spewed raced after my pokemon, moving faster than it. Snover hopped up on what was one of the two remaining rock outcroppings. The crack swept underneath the rocks and they blew apart. Snover went tumbling to the ground but out of the way of any other tendrils of the earth power attack.

I called out, "Ice shard!"

From its prone position on its back, Snover rolled to its left and hurled the shard with one arm. It wasn't a good shot though. The shard shattered against Flygon's upper thigh instead of center mass like I would've preferred. Flygon faltered for a second though and gave me a chance to observe the field. Snover's snow warning ability had cloaked the field in clouds that were occasionally pelting Flygon with hail. All but one of the rock outcroppings had been reduced to a pile of rubble. A number of holes from Hippowdon using dig made for dangerous walking hazards.

All of which gave me an idea.

I pointed at a cloud that was slowly making its way across the field. "Hide in that cloud!" Snover rolled to its feet and dove into the cloud. "Just hang tight for a moment!"

Gary and Flygon took a moment to regroup as well. The cloud my snover was in was an isolated cloud so there was little chance of losing it. They did get a chance to catch their breath but caught some hail to the side of their head for the trouble.

"Nowhere to go!" Gary declared. "Wipe out that cloud and Snover with dragon pulse!"

Flygon reared back and fired the purple ball. It tore through the cloud, ripping it apart, before exploding in the distance. As the wisps of the cloud faded, Snover was nowhere to be seen. The look on Gary's face was priceless.

"Get up in the air!" he ordered. "It couldn't have gone far!"

"Ice beam!"

Across the field from where it had disappeared, Snover popped out of the ground. The icy blast erupted from its hands and caught an unaware Flygon directly in its unprotected flank. A powerful strike. Flygon crashed down just a few feet from the hole that Snover had first hidden in and then crossed beneath the field to its current location.

"Don't let up!" I shouted as clouds, snow, and hail swirled in the air. "Razor leaf!"

Spinning leaves mixed with falling hail to pound Flygon and keep it pinned on the ground.

The end was near. I could feel it.

So could Gary. "Earth power and then dragon pulse!"

Flygon slammed its tail into the ground to create the earth power. As it swept across the field, Snover had no choice but to end its razor leaf barrage in favor of trying to avoid the ground-type attack. That was when the dragon pulse took it. I lost track of my pokemon inside the explosion.

"Finish it with dragon claw!"

I didn't know if he was being optimistic or not but I couldn't chance it. "Counter with head butt!"

As Flygon came soaring in, claws extended, Snover came suddenly flying out. The pointed top of its head slammed directly into Flygon's gut before the surprised dragon pokemon could swing its claws. The sudden reversal of direction contorted Flygon's body in a way that couldn't have felt pleasant. The two pokemon crashed to the ground and rolled through one of the snow clouds on the field. When they emerged from the other side, pieces of ice clung to Flygon. It was breathing deeply and wavering in its stance.

"Head butt!" I shouted.

Flygon offered no resistance as Snover drove its forehead into the pokemon. Flygon staggered back a step and then flopped over backwards.

"Flygon is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Victory to Tim and Snover!"

"Hell yeah!" I exclaimed and the pointed to Snover. "You! Get over here and give me some! You were amazing!"

Snover ran over to me and I scooped it up in a hug. It cheered happily as I swung it around. We'd done it. We'd just won our eight badge. I'd won enough badges to enter the Pokemon League.

My joy was quickly clouded over with anger when I saw Gary was talking on his cell phone to someone.

I put Snover away and stalked across the field. The Gym Leader appeared to be having a rather pleasant conversation. His eyes found me and he laughed. I was furious. In my moment of victory he had the audacity to take a phone call?"

"What's that?" he was saying as I got closed. "Yeah Grandpa, he was really good. Was able to deal with everything I threw at him. Here he comes. What?" He laughed. "You're right, he doesn't look too happy with me. He did real good though. Hmm? Yeah, he did remind me of him a bit."

I was about to start ranting when Gary stuck the phone out at me. "It's for you."

Snatching the phone from him, I practically spit out, "What?"

The responding laughter was familiar. Now I was confused.

"Professor Oak?" I asked.

He kept laughing. "Hello Tim! I understand that you just showed Gary a thing or two. Good for you!"

"Um, yes sir, I guess I did." I still had no idea what was going on.

"Well, I can't talk for long," he said. "I just asked Gary to call me after your match to let me know how it went. He'll explain more."

He said his goodbyes and then hung up. I handed the phone back to Gary and said, "What the hell?"

Gary laughed. "This was all Gramps' idea."

Now that he said that, I realized why I thought his voice sounded familiar. He sounded a little like Professor Oak. My mind was blown. I didn't know Professor Oak had kids, let alone a grandson who was a gym leader.

"When you get to the Pokemon League, especially if you make it to battle the Elite Four, trainers will have access to records of your pokemon. You're familiar with the League scouts right?"

I had to think about that for a moment. "Yeah, they're trainers in the field that take note of promising trainers, right? I met one once. They combine those reviews with those of Gym Leaders."

"Right. They also keep tabs on the pokemon you have used in battle along with what attacks they use. Once you're entered into the League Tournament, everyone has access to that data. People can tailor their teams to exactly what they think you might use. It tried to do that today just to give you a taste of it.

"Sometimes using pokemon with type advantages is good but if you're always using the same pokemon, you can run into trouble. Each of my pokemon was ready to counter at least two of your more commonly used pokemon. If someone else does that in the tournament, you could be done rather quickly. Sometimes raising a pokemon in secret and not unveiling it until you absolutely have to can be a good idea."

I thought about that for a second. "So why weren't you prepared for Snover?"

Gary gave me a sheepish look. "Snover isn't in your file yet. You must not have sent it to Gramps or used in a battle with a scout." He winked at me. "We'll let it be our secret. I won't put it in your file either."

For the first time in a while, I smiled too. "Thanks. So you really engineered a team specifically to counter my primary pokemon? What if I wouldn't have battle with you? What if I had just demanded my badge?"

He shrugged. "I knew you wouldn't. I talked to Lucas. He said you guys were adamant about battling him. I figured I could goad you into it even if you didn't want to though."

"So that's why you were such an ass in the beginning?"

Gary just laughed. "Come on, let's get you your badge. I've still got to give your friends this lesson too."

The Earth Badge didn't look like what I expected it to. Instead of looking like, you know, the Earth, it looked more like a stalk of an asparagus. I didn't care though. I had all eight Badges now. Gary got me set up with my winnings and then sent me off to his auxiliary waiting room. He told me to help myself to the cookies on the table and the juice in the mini fridge. It would've been rude not to have some.

I probably could've gone and watched whoever Gary was battling next but I decided against it. Chewing on a peanut butter cookie, I dug out my pokedex and switched it on. Gary's words really made sense. Being predictable was never a good thing. I went scrolling through the list of pokemon that I had used my pokedex to identify, specifically targeting the ones that I owned.

There was definitely some potential in the bunch. Jigglypuff and Scorupi were two that jumped out at me. Neither of them had been seen in battle and didn't match any other type of pokemon I had. Nincada appealed to me at first but then I realized if it evolved into a ninjask, it'd be the same type as Butterfree. A shedinja was a possibility but I didn't like how vulnerable it was. Grimer was an interesting though. I didn't have any poisonous pokemon and none of them even knew poison moves.

Time slipped away from me as I went over the possibilities in my mind. Not only the ones that I already had but the ones I could still catch. I had no idea how long it had been when David walked into the room.

"How'd it go?" I asked as I put my pokedex away.

"Not easy but I won." David let out a long breath. "He have a team specially designed to combat yours?"

I laughed. "Of course. Outside of when we got stomped in New Jersey, probably the hardest battle yet."

David went on to elaborate on Gary's team he faced. A torterra had given David fits, being the grass-type foil to his wartortle. A gliscor served to combat David's primeape with its flying-type and torment his other pokemon with its use of the three elemental fangs. David had rounded out his team with his scyther and grotle. Gary's other pokemon had been a ground/fire-typed camerupt and quite possibly the same mamoswime I had previously defeated. The type match up had given David fits but he eventually prevailed, the turning point being when he was able to defeat Gary's gliscor. I didn't rub it in but he had had two of his pokemon knocked out when I only had one.

I asked him if Gary had given him the same talk about predictability and how people would be able to access our files and see what pokemon we had used. Obviously he had. We began to talk about what other options we had when it dawned on me that David had no other options. He had far fewer pokemon than me and Dylan simply because of his "only catch what you'll use" philosophy. We began to scan through my pokedex to try and find some other pokemon that he would use if he could manage to catch them.

We had finally narrowed it down to a few when Dylan emerged through the door leading to the battlefield. A thin sheen of sweat covered his face. He collapsed into one of the chairs at the table David and I were at.

"Holy shit," he muttered. "That was brutal."

I was surprised. "Did you lose?"

He put his head down so his words were muffled. "Not exactly. We went to a draw. I was lucky it got that far."

Apparently Gary's nidoking had blown Gyarados out of the sky in the opening minutes of the match. Dylan had been down one pokemon the entire time and didn't have the luxury of having one that Gary didn't know about like me. His remaining team of Feraligatr, Ivysaur and Dustox had been playing catch up the entire time. Gary's remaining pokemon of a camerupt, claydol and gliscor had been chosen perfectly. Feraligatr had lasted the longest, being apart of the double KO that ended the match with Gliscor.

"Do you have to face him again?" David asked.

Dylan sighed. "No. He still gave me a badge."

"Then what the hell's your problem?" David laughed. "You still got all eight badges!"

Dylan's head came up. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Gary entered the room. "So, you guys are all set then? You each got your badges and winnings right?"

We all nodded. He took a moment to shake each of our hands and then said, "My grandfather wouldn't have had me do what I did if he didn't think highly of you. All three of you have serious potential to go far in the tournament. Don't let me down. Be sure to register for the Tournament as soon as you can and book a hotel early."

With that, he was gone. He had to reopen the gym to all the other waiting challengers. We just sat there munching on cookies for a few minutes. No one said anything.

"So…," I said slowly. "What now?"

"What do you mean?" Dylan asked.

"Well, after every other gym battle we'd immediately set out for the next Gym. We just beat the last one. The tournament isn't for another month and a half. Where do we go now?"

Dylan and David looked at each other. It hadn't occurred to them either. For the first time in a very long time we didn't have a clear destination.

"Home, I guess," David said eventually. "I guess there's nothing left to do but train or catch new pokemon."

"Just catch a flight?" Dylan suggested. "By the time we walk back, we'd just have to fly back out for the Tournament."

I snorted. "We're in Arizona. We wouldn't even make it home if we walked. We'd get halfway there and have to catch a flight out to California."

"Are you going home too?" Dylan asked David. "Or did you want to come stay with us and use Professor Oak's campus?"

David took a bit to think about the offer. "No, I don't think so. Not right now anyway. I think I might go see my cousin Dani. You remember her?" We obviously did. "She's got a lot of area I can use to train. There's also some pokemon I want to see if I can find and catch. Gary's point was well-made today."

We each grabbed another handful of cookies and headed out of the Gym.

We had flown out the next day. David had departed first on his flight to Chicago. Dylan and I had a flight that didn't leave until later in the day so we screwed around in the airport for most of the day. Both of our parents were waiting at the Grand Rapids airport to pick us up. We were whisked home to waiting extended families and celebrations in our honor. Luckily they had rented a hall. Between our families and people who had been following us on Twitter and Facebook, a serious number of people had turned out.

People kept trying to get us to tell stories about what we had seen but Dylan and I insisted on stuffing our faces with food. It had been a while since we'd had a good meal. We were asked about the new generation at which point we would stuff more food into our mouths. Neither of us were sure just how much we were allowed to say about what we knew. By silent agreement, we refused to mention that we were at the actual event.

The party lasted well into the evening. Family members began to trickle out around seven or eight, most of them having to work the next day since it was a weekday. The friends that showed up were less concerned about having school the next day and stayed even later. To be honest, both Dylan and I were ready for bed by like ten. It had been an exhausting couple of days.

The next day I didn't see Dylan. I spent the whole day loafing around my parents house. I woke up at noon. I spent most of the afternoon on the couch watching television. Despite trying to keep my mind off pokemon for the day I eventually found ESPN-P, the ESPN channel dedicated solely to professional pokemon battling. I lost hours watching replays of old Pokemon League matches. I was pretty sure that I could justify this as research.

After that initial lazy day, the training began.

Well technically, training didn't so much begin as spending time with all my pokemon began. It was nice to just hang out with my pokemon. I got to play with Jigglypuff on the grassy knoll. Heracross somehow managed to have a rather enlightening conversation about martial arts. Axew had found a ball somewhere and we played catch for hours.

One of the more surprising things I found up at Oak's lab was the change in attitude of some of my pokemon. Before Butterfree had been angry with me for leaving it there and Staraptor had just not cared for me much in general. Staraptor, it seemed had taken a liking to the different terrains available to it and its attitude towards me had done a complete turnaround. Butterfree had bonded with Staraptor and was no longer bitter towards me. I didn't understand it but I would take it. We released all the other pokemon from their poke balls and just let them wander the campus. Even when we left, if we left, we let them go about their business. Even Professor Oak agreed that it might help with their development to be left outside the poke balls.

Dylan and I spent so much time up at Professor Oak's lab that some of the assistants converted an unused laboratory into a room for us after one scientist found us asleep on lab tables for a third morning. Basically they put some cots in there and gave us keys to use the locker room for showers. It wasn't much but the gesture was still appreciated.

I began to develop a training strategy. Some of my more veteran pokemon could be left mostly to their own doing. Pokemon like Charizard, Sceptile and Heracross I didn't need to bother with, although I still did. I spread the rest of my time among my pokemon that I hadn't spent lots of time with, whether it be because of a crowded rotation or just that I hadn't had them all that long.

Our pokemon grew by leaps and bounds. Within the first week Dylan's ivysaur and quilava evolved into venusaur and typhlosion. By the end of the next week, training had led to my corphish evolving into a crawdaunt. Snover evolved into Abomasnow the following day after defeating Dylan's dustox in a rather fierce training session. The amount of time our pokemon were spending together really did seem to be paying off.

They had also began to learn attacks from one another making our job of adjusting their movesets easier. Charizard had learned to use dragon claw from Axew. Crawdaunt had picked up dark pulse from Gengar. The one that I found to be the most interesting was Heracross learning stone edge from Krokorok, which in retrospect, was really a good attack for Heracross to have.

Slowly, Dylan and I began to drift to other sides of the compound. Nothing had come between our friendship but we both knew that at some point we might have to face each other in the tournament. We each needed to keep something from the other. I had my secret weapons that I was working with and I had a feeling he had his own as well. We still saw each other several times a day, usually for meals. There was always a certain amount of trash talking involved.

We did our best to keep in touch with David. He spent his first week on Dani's ranch doing nothing but training. The following week he set out to capture some new pokemon. He spent some time in the Carolinas and then more surprisingly, some time up in Canada. When we heard back from him he said he'd have some new surprises for us next time we met up.

There was just three weeks left when one of Professor Oak's aides pulled me aside one day during a break in training.

"I have something for you," she said. I glanced at her badge and saw her name was Ellen.

"Oh, ok. Mail or something?" I asked.

She shook her head, sending her short black hair whipping around. "Something… else."

She reached into her lab coat pocket and produced a stone. I only had to glance at it once to see that it was a thunder stone.

"I saw you training with your pikachu out there," she explained. "It looked pretty tough but I didn't know if you'd have the means or the opportunity to evolve it. I know pikachu are pretty popular but a raichu is much stronger and faster."

I took the stone from her gently and looked at it.

"There are some side effects of stone evolution," Ellen continued. "Well, really of any evolution. The personality of your pikachu may change drastically. Raichu are often known to be more competitive and extremely fierce battlers."

I snorted. "You clearly haven't actually met my pikachu. That wouldn't be a personality shift at all."

She eyed me carefully. "So are you going to use it?"

"I don't know," I answered truthfully. "But I thank you for it all the same."

It was something I'd have to put a lot of thought into. I liked Pikachu. The lure of having it evolve into a more powerful pokemon was intoxicating though. I wanted to win this tournament and I wanted every advantage. At first I wondered if it would be considered cruel to force it to evolve but then I wondered if it was really all that different from regular evolution. There was no way I couldn't say I didn't have a hand in the evolutions of all my other pokemon despite the majority of them evolving through experience. Maybe the thunder stone was just the way to reward an experienced pikachu since it couldn't evolve on its own. I slipped the stone into my pocket and decided to give it some more though later.

David arrived at Professor Oak's two weeks before the tournament was to start, a week before we planned to head out to California and two days after Dylan had left on some mystery errand. He got the grand tour before meeting up with us in the large grassy field that had become our joint training field. The amount of pokemon that had evolved already impressed him.

"What about you?" I asked as we got comfortable in the grass. "I know you caught some new pokemon. Any evolutions?"

David hesitated and I knew he was considering making me wait but in the end he said, "Yeah, a couple. Actually maybe a lot."

That surprised me. "Vlad?"

"Nope, not Vlad. Not yet."

I wondered what he was waiting for but David and Vlad had always worked in mysterious ways. "So who?"

"Lenny is now a torterra, I evolved War Machine into a rhyperior, Sumo is now a snorlax and Al is now a crobat."

I whistled. "You've been busy."

"That's not all," he said and dug out a pokemon. "Check out Zippo."

Zippo was David's litwick. Or had been. Instead of a pokemon that looked like a candle, it looked more like a lantern. A clear round orb held blue fire with two yellow eyes out from. A black hat-like structure was on its head that looked like a lampshade. It had a base that reminded me of the base that held my parents porch light on the pokemon had two long arms that came out of it.

"Well that's fun," I said. "What is it?"

"A lampent," he answered. "Still a fire- and ghost-type. I was reading on the internet that someone evolved one further with a stone but I can't seem to confirm that or even find which stone."

My thoughts drifted to the thunder stone the aide had given me. "If you do figure it out, talk to Professor Oak or one of the aids. I'm sure they'd be willing to donate a stone to you since it could be considered research for the Fifth Generation."

David's eyes lit up. "I didn't even think of that."

"What'd you catch?" I asked. "You said something before about catching new pokemon."

"Not all the ones I wanted but I got the really important one." he pulled himself to his feet and offered me a hand up. "Come on. If you want to see it, you've got to battle it."

"I can handle that."

"Don't bring out any heavy hitters," he insisted. "I haven't had it for that long. I'm still training it."

"Not a problem." I scanned the field until I saw the pokemon I wanted. "Axew! Up for a battle?"

The dragon pokemon's eyes lit up and it raced over to me. I knelt down and gave it a quick pet as David put some distance between us. The other pokemon that were around us tried to act like they were minding their own business but weren't doing a very good job of it. Charizard didn't even pretend. It walked up and plopped down behind me to watch.

"Ready?" David called.

"Whenever you are."

He nodded. "Go, Riddick!"

I recognized the pokemon easily. It was roughly humanoid shaped but with sharp claws and spikes where ears should have been on the wide head. The body was a deep purple with the exception of the red gem in the center of its chest and the two crystals that served as eyes. I knew there would be a few more gems on its back and at the moment, it was hiding a mouthful of sharp teeth.

"A sableye, eh?" I said. "Not too shabby. No weaknesses is always a plus."

"Let's find out! Shadow claw!" The translucent image of a large three-fingered claw appeared around the sableye's arm as it charged.

"Dragon claw!" I countered.

The ghostly and dragon claws clashed, neither overwhelming the other. Then Axew lit up its other arm's claws with dragon claw and raked them across Riddick. The ghost- and dark-typed pokemon staggered back.

"Dragon rage!"

"Double team!"

Suddenly there was a ring of sableye surrounding Axew. Axew froze, the crackling sphere of the dragon rage hovering just outside its jaws. Its eyes darted around until they found me. I nodded it and it chose a direction at random. The dragon rage went right through the copy of Riddick making it vanish. Another copy quickly replaced it.

"Night shade!"

Black lightning lanced out from all the Riddick copies. Only one burst of it was real but that real burst did some damage. Unfortunately there was no way to tell which one it had come from.

"Are you ready Axew?" I called and when I got a nod, I shouted, "Dragon dance!"

Axew began swaying from side to side. It placed its hands out in front of its body, palms showing. Its eyes slid almost closed as it fell into a deep concentrated state. Suddenly the eyes snapped back open. A rush of purple flames erupted from Axew's feet, covered its whole body and then faded into the air. A faint purple glow was left in its eyes but quickly vanished.

"Now! Dragon claw!"

Taking off like a shot, Axew ran its blue-green claws through the first Riddick. When it vanished, the dragon pokemon pivoted and stuck at the second. Moving with greatly enhanced speed, it made short work of the copies until it struck solid mass. The raised attack power of Axew sent Riddick flying backwards.

"Dragon rage!"

"Block it with night shade!"

Black lightning caught the yellow orb. They crackled against each other and then finally detonated.

"Dragon claw!"

"Fire punch!"

Axew left a grey streak in the air as it raced around Riddick. The darkness pokemon tried to turn to face its opponent but it couldn't match Axew's upgraded speed. One set of claws went one way and then the other went the opposite way. Riddick went down. And stayed down.

"Good work Riddick," David sighed as he pulled out a poke ball. "Looks like we still have some work to do."

"Well done Axew," I said.

The pokemon erupted into white light as soon as we made eye contact.

When the light faded, I had a new pokemon. The two tusks that Axew had had were still prevalent, but now bigger and tipped in red. It now had a green cowl-like feature that segmented from the top of its head down its arms and partway down its chest. The red eyes matched the red tipped claws and tail as well as the trio of spots that decorated the now black skin. It took a few tries but I learned that the pokemon was now Fraxure.

"Man, glad I could at least help you out," David snorted.

Dylan returned the next day, his trip having apparently been successful.

He strode up onto the field where David and I were sparring with Butterfree and Sumo flanked by two pokemon. The taller of the two pokemon I recognized immediately. The red metallic skin and insectoid appearance gave it away as a scizor. Dylan had apparently gone out on a quest for a metal coat to evolve his scyther. The second pokemon though, I had never seen before. It was made mostly of dark blue rock and walked on three red-tipped feet, one in back and two in the front. A large crest went down its main body, splitting the quartet of red rocks on its back. On either side of the crest where it stopped were two yellow rimmed holes. Below that were three more red rocks.

I nodded at the rock pokemon. "Who the heck is that?"

"Ah, allow me to introduce you," he said with a grin. He turned to the pokemon and held out a hand. "This is Boldore but you probably remember it as Roggenrolla."

I squatted down in front of the pokemon. "You got bigger."

David laughed. "Such a master of observation." He and Dylan shook hands.

"I miss anything while I was gone?" Dylan asked and then stopped short of saying something else when Fraxure strode by. "What the hell is that?"

"That's the new Axew," I responded. "Called Fraxure now."

Dylan just eyed the pokemon. "Cute little Axew turned into that?"

I shrugged. "If you want cute, I still have Jigglypuff."

"Still?" David asked. "Are you actually planning to use it.

All I could do was shrug again. "Not sure. I've been working with it in case I want to. No offense to it but I don't plan on making it a staple of my team any time soon though."

"Huh," Dylan said, still watching Fraxure. "I miss anything else?"

"A development!" called a new voice.

We turned to see Professor Oak and one of his aids hustling up the grassy knoll and then down it again to meet us.

"I'm glad you're back, Dylan," Oak said. "And even more importantly, that your roggenrolla has evolved. There's been a new breakthrough involving its line."

"A breakthrough?" Dylan repeated.

"Indeed! Someone has discovered that there is another evolution in the roggenrolla line!"

Dylan's eyebrows went up. "Really? Not by normal means?"

"No and this is a first!" Oak leaned in mysteriously. "Boldore apparently evolves into a new creature that's being called Gigalith when traded!"

And that was how we all ended up standing in front of Professor Oak's trade machine.

We sent our other pokemon through first to see if they might evolve by this method as well. Krokorok and Fraxure didn't. None of David's pokemon did either, nor did any of Dylan's other pokemon. Finally we put Boldore into the machine. What resulted from the evolution was something that was definitely worthy of the name Gigalith.

It had nearly doubled in height and was now a quadruped. It still had the same dark blue color but there were tall red crystals all over its body, including three on each foot that served as claws. A massive crystal ran down its face and split apart the two yellow-rimmed holes that had been on Boldore. Now for the first time, there were eyes in the holes giving Gigalith its first visible eyes. It also now had a mouth that had a row of sharp little teeth.

"Now that's something to behold," Dylan said with a whistle.

The rest of the week was spent in serious training.

Dylan's drilbur was the next pokemon to evolve while facing off against Stinky, David's trubbish. Drilbur's evolution was taller and bulkier but maintained the same skin color although now it had a red-striped pattern across its body. A big metal, almost shovel-like appendage hung down over its head. It matched the two metal, ridged claws that had replaced the normal ones it had used to have. When the claws and the head appendage were pressed together, the pokemon looked like a drill. Dylan caught its name right away but it had to shout it a few times in battle for me to finally get it: Excadrill.

David, however, wasn't about to be outdone. Stinky exploded into a white light of its own.

Stinky shot upwards, probably close to tripling its height. The two stubby arms became long and thin, three small appendages coming out of one and a single one from the other. When the light faded I could make out the two clumps above its head that were probably ears. The dark green color that Stinky had been only ran about halfway down its body. Now there was a lot more gray color with spots of blue and pink. The small appendages I had seen on the arms before I realized were fingers that seemed to be made out of a metallic piping. Big jagged teeth gnashed at Dylan's pokemon. To be honest, it looked a lot like a trash bag that had split open.

Unfortunately, Stinky's evolution was in vain. When Drilbur had evolved into Excadrill it had picked up an extra type: steel. Now all of Stinky's poison-type attacks were utterly useless. To their credit, David and his new garbodor did what they could to stay in the battle but it was clearly a lost cause.

With those two evolutions, that only left Dylan's golett and David's rufflet as the only Fifth Generation pokemon we had that hadn't evolved at least once. We weren't sure if they would evolve either. Both of them seemed fairly powerful in their own right. There was a good chance they were all done evolving. We were all pretty pleased with what we had so it didn't bother us. That's not to say we stopped working with them. There was still always that outside chance they'd reveal a more powerful form.

Our last night in town, Professor Oak took the three of us, my parents and Dylan's parents all out for dinner. He said we should spend some time relaxing and more importantly, eat one more good meal. The professor knew that we'd soon get so caught up in preparing for our matches that we either wouldn't eat well or even at all.

We flew out on Monday morning, catching a flight that had a layover in Nebraska. It wasn't a long flight and with the time change, it was barely early afternoon by the time we landed in San Francisco. We found a cab outside the airport and piled in.

Originally we had planned to share a hotel room but Professor Oak had advised against that. He had pointed out that at some point we may be facing each other, or some of us may be eliminated and we may need our privacy. We had managed to secure three rooms at a fairly inexpensive hotel. Being participating trainers, we had been offered a discount which helped. The rooms were nothing special. Each had a twin bed, average sized TV, desk and normal bathroom. With free wi-fi and laundry facilities available combined with the price had made choosing this place easy.

I stood in the window, hands on my hips. I took in a deep breath of the San Francisco air. The enormous structure that would hold the League Tournament was visible in the skyline. It was then that I realized our adventure wasn't almost over.

It was just about to start.


	51. Chapter 51

We decided to treat ourselves the first night there.

Decked out in the suits we had brought just in case, we found a moderately fancy restaurant for dinner. Somewhere in the backs of our minds, we had hoped to be treated like celebrities since we were super-skilled pokemon trainers in town to enter the League Tournament. Unfortunately as we heard snippets of other conversations, so was half of the restaurant crowd. We still managed to have a fantastic dinner.

"So I was thinking," Dylan said, sipping from his water glass after our dinner plates had been cleared.

I rolled my eyes. "Another theory? Haven't you got enough?"

"No, no," he waved me off. "This is something different. I was thinking about… you know. That event."

It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out he was talking about the arrival of the Fifth Generation.

"So I'd been thinking about it and how we were there and how our involvement was pretty crucial. What I'm wonder is… did we save the world? Because I'm pretty sure that we did."

I had to take a glance around real quick. Everyone knew about the Fivers but no one knew about us. We still weren't sure if we were allowed to talk about being there. Not even our families knew we were involved in the event. No one seemed to have overheard him. Even so, we all learned in closer to the table.

"I'm not so sure about saving the world," David objected. "Prevented pokemon enslavement, sure."

"What do you think Team Rocket was going to do with all those pokemon?" Dylan pressed. "What good were they going to do just sitting in poke balls? They wanted to capture them all, get into the Sanctuary and get even more. They wanted an army."

"I still think it's a bit of a stretch," I said. "You can probably make a case for it but unless you actually knew what they were planning, you can't prove it."

"Ah!" Dylan held up a finger. "But that means you can't disprove it either!"

He had us there.

After dinner, I found myself relaxing alone in my hotel room. I was stretched out on the bed, my laptop on my legs and the television providing low background noise. It was actually a little weird to be alone.

I checked my email and found that I had one from the Pokemon League. I quickly clicked on it. Inside was an itinerary for the tournament. Thursday was the opening ceremonies and a time was provided for trainers to be there by. Thursday night was the technical start of the tournament which came as a surprise to me. I had thought that the battles didn't begin until Friday. Thursday night would actually be a series of one-on-one battles between trainers that would receive a notification to help narrow down the field of competitors to the proper number. Those chosen were trainers that the League felt might still not be ready for the tournament despite gathering the prerequisite number of badges.

Clicking out of the email, I looked at my inbox to see if I had been sent another email. None had arrived. I gave it another minute before assuming I might not be getting one and going back to reading the one I had gotten.

Friday would be the start of the tournament that was televised on more than ESPN-P. Trainers would be randomly selected to battle on different elemental fields. There were four fields in all: water, grass, rock, and ice. These battles would be three-on-three battles. These were also single elimination battles, meaning the loser went home. Once all trainers had either won on all four fields or been sent home, the next round would begin and feature sixty-four trainers. That round would also be three-on-three but fought on a neutral field. All battles after that round would be full battles and would be waged on neutral fields as well. It would take five rounds of six-on-six battles to decide the champion and a total of ten days ending a week from Sunday. Then the Tournament Champion would have the option to battle the Elite Four and the League Champion that following week.

Following the description was a loose timetable for when matches would be. At the very bottom of the email was a link that was labeled "Trainers". I clicked on it. A webpage opened, ran through some verification and then opened. It was a database. The description at the top of the page explained that this was a compilation of all the trainers that were entered into this year's League Tournament. Clicking on a name would provide information about said trainer and his or her pokemon. While the information was not necessary complete as a trainer may have captured a new pokemon or evolved one already owned, it was what had been gathered and speculated upon by scouts and Gym Leaders.

I gave a low whistle as I scrolled through the page. There had to be over three-hundred trainers listed on here. On the side were option on how to organize the names. They could be separated by gender, home state or ranking. I clicked on ranking and after the page changed, it offered an explanation. Although battle opponents were randomly selected, there were technically "power rankings" of trainers. This was based upon age, years dedicated to training professionally, other tournament placing, scout input, Gym Leader input, and previous experiences in the Tournament.

Just for kicks, I looked at the top ten to see if I was there. Obviously I wasn't. I expanded to the top twenty and didn't find my name. Pressing the down arrow key on my keyboard I went all the way through the top fifty. Still no me, Dylan or David. We weren't in the top seventy. Or one-hundred. My heart began to sink. Dylan was the first to appear at one-hundred and eighty-six. I was at one-ninety and David was two spots behind me.

That made no sense to me. I had fared better than Dylan in our last two Gym battles. I had beaten Gary while he had fought him to a draw. He had struggled with Lucas and I had stomped him flat. I had won one of the tournaments in Anaheim with the Fivers. In short, anything he had done, I had done better. I clicked on my name with a little more fury than necessary.

The first thing I noticed was they actually had a picture of me. I stared at it, trying to figure out where it had been taken. It was me from the chest up, a look of sadistic enjoyment on my face as I was sweeping a hand through the air. A more badass picture had probably never been taken of me. It had to have been taken in either Arizona or at the poison Gym in New Jersey.

Below the picture was a few basic facts about me. Name, age, hometown, the basics. Underneath that was a header that said "Scout's Take" and then a paragraph that read:

_Trainer shows remarkable skill for having been professionally active for less than one year. However, lack of preplanning does not allow for a higher ranking. Without a battle plan, trainer is often at a disadvantage and has to rely on random chance and sheer creativity to be victorious. Though this has worked thus far, luck can only carry a trainer so far. Proper preplanning paired with high levels of creativity could make this trainer exceedingly hard to match up against._

At first I was angry. Then I read it again and was pleased. Then the third time I was just confused. It seemed to be telling me that I didn't think in advance which was my Achilles heel but at the same time what made me hard to beat. The whole random chance thing seemed like a bit of a low blow unless they were referring to my pokemon evolving during matches. I guess that was pretty random chance although it'd only happened twice in regulation battles.

Putting the synopsis of me out of my mind, I scrolled down the page even further to find the list of my pokemon. I wasn't sure if it was listing the species name or my pokemons' names since they were the same but they were all there next to a stock picture of each species. I was glad they didn't have actual pictures of each one of my pokemon because that'd be a little creepy. They were almost all there. True to his word, Gary hadn't put anything in the system about my snover. Krokorok was in there but Fraxure was still listed as being an axew just like Crawdaunt was still listed as a corphish. There were a few others that didn't appear at all. Next to Charizard was a small asterisk. I hovered my mouse icon over it and a small window appeared with a note in it. The note simply said "Believed first pokemon". That was interesting, made even more interesting by the fact that there wasn't an asterisk next to Sceptile. There was definitely an advantage to be had with that.

I was up well into the night checking out other trainers and their profiles. There were lots of people with uncommon pokemon but there were even more with common ones. I realized that I'd have to be ready to counter this but then it dawned on me that they would know that I knew. Then I wondered if they would know that I knew that they knew. And then what if they knew that I knew that they knew that I knew? The whole thing was one giant logic bomb. Eventually I got tired of trying to wrap my head around it and just went to sleep.

The next day we were determined to do some training. Unfortunately, so were the other three-hundred plus trainers in the tournament. If I had to guess, I would say that the thought of being eliminated before even getting to battle on the elemental fields was in the back of everyone's minds. San Francisco was a big city but there was only so much room available for pokemon training. Realizing there was probably a better chance of us finding space for one instead of space for three, my friends and I separated with the promise to meet back up for dinner.

I ended up taking a trolley through the heart of city which was unfortunately where all the tourists were. It took me another hour to negotiate my way back out to the fringes of the population. Even there it was hard to find a decent amount of space. Trainers weren't really looking to battle each other as much as they were just looking to fine tune their pokemon's attacks.

"Kind of busy out here, isn't it?"

I turned to the random voice. It hadn't been spoken by anyone I knew but for some reason, I thought he looked familiar. The guy who had spoken was probably close to thirty with black hair peaking out from underneath his red ball cap. His hands were tucked in the front pocket of the sleeveless blue hoodie he wore over a navy t-shirt. I figured he had to be pretty warm since I was in shorts and a light jacket but he seemed fine in his hoodie and long jeans.

"Yeah," I responded lamely, not really sure how else to respond. "All I wanted was enough space to do some training."

He eyed me with one of his brown eyes. "League Tournament?"

I nodded. "First time. Didn't get the email that I have to battle on Thursday though. You?"

The stranger didn't respond. He simply watched some trainers off in the distance. A gout of fire split the sky before he said, "I'm just looking for a tune-up before the big event. You want to have a quick battle?"

Tons of thoughts streamed through my head. This guy might just be trying to check out the competition. He might just want to see what kind of pokemon I have. I wouldn't want to give away any of my new pokemon. I also probably shouldn't use one of my core pokemon. Maybe one like Sandslash who was strong, but not one of my most powerful just so I wasn't giving everything away. Then it dawned on me how quickly I had accepted the idea of battling.

"You're on," I said. "One-on-one?"

"Works for me." He held up a poke ball. "You know who you're using?"

I held up a poke ball of my own. "Already decided." I was feeling good about my choice. Something about this guy told me he might use an electric pokemon.

He put some space between us and then shouted, "Let's do this. Donphan, I choose you!"

I was wrong about the electric pokemon. We were going to have a battle of the ground-types apparently. The light gray bulk of the donphan was familiar and I knew it was going to have some pretty tough defenses. Sandslash flexed its claws in preparation of getting through those defenses.

"Hey!"

I looked up. "Yeah?"

"What's your name?"

I didn't see why it would matter but I called back, "Tim!"

He nodded. "You can call me Red."

It was a strange name but I didn't dwell on it. "Sandslash, use dig!"

Sandslash dove into the ground, throwing clots of dirt and grass everywhere.

Red waited for Sandslash to disappear completely before shouting, "Earthquake!"

Donphan reared up on its hind legs and brought its front legs crashing down. Powerful shockwaves rippled across the ground. I almost fell over. Sandslash was hurled out of the ground like it had been fired from a gun. It crashed hard but got right back up.

"Ok, underground isn't going to work," I muttered. "Rollout!"

Sandslash became a rolling ball of rock-type might. It plowed into Donphan and knocked the pokemon aside. Sandslash slowed to a stop and I shouted, "Rollout again!"

"Donphan, use rollout as well!"

The two spinning pokemon smashed into each other. The impact threw them apart. They raced towards each other again. Sparks of energy crackled as they backed apart and slammed into each other again. Neither gave ground until Donphan gave a mighty push and Sandslash went sprawling aside.

"Go after it, Donphan!"

"Focus blast!"

Sandslash spun around to display the glowing orb in its claws. It hurled the attack at Donphan one-handed. The explosion sent the bigger pokemon crashing to the ground. Sandslash quickly chased after it.

"Use slash!" I yelled.

"Take down!" Red countered.

Donphan bolted back up and charged at my pokemon. Sandslash dodge-rolled to the side and slashed its claws down Donphan as it thundered past. Donphan weren't made for pinpoint turning and it had to make a wide, arcing turn to get back facing its opponent.

"Focus blast!" With the amount of space between the two pokemon, it seemed like the best bet. Donphan had shown nothing but short-ranged attacks.

"Hyper beam!"

The yellow beam that blasted out of Donphan's mouth completely swallowed up Sandslash's focus blast like it hadn't even been there. The beam slammed into my pokemon and detonated. When the smoke cleared and the debris stopped falling, Sandslash was laying there motionless.

I was frozen in place. Without a type advantage, that donphan had just taken down my sandslash with only three attacks. Either this guy was really good or I may just not have gotten my notification that I had to be in the pre-rounds.

"Hey, you're pretty good," Red said as he walked back over to me.

I shook off my paralysis. "Did you not watch that match? You took me apart pretty easily."

He shrugged. "That's all a matter of opinion. For a first time entry, you're pretty decent. I'm pretty sure I wasn't as good as you the first time I entered."

"How many times have you been in the tournament?" I asked. Things were starting to make a little more sense. This guy had must be an annual competitor.

He didn't answer. Instead he turned to face a woman that was coming up to us. "Hey hon."

"Hey yourself," she said.

She was a pretty woman, probably around the same age as Red or maybe a few years younger. She had on a pleated pink skirt which matched her ugg boots and showed off her long legs. A black top made it obvious that her dark hair wasn't black but some dark shade of blue, almost the polar opposite of her sky-blue eyes. Walking behind her was a piplup and a pikachu. For some reason, she seemed familiar but I knew I'd never met her.

"How'd it go?" Red asked.

She shrugged. They both liked to shrug a lot, I noticed. "It was a fun little contest tournament. I miss the days when contest battling was all the rage. We won though. Thanks for letting Pikachu help me out."

The pikachu then moved to stand next to Red. I knew that guy had an electric pokemon feel to him. Then the woman looked at me. "Getting some last minute training in?"

"Always time for more training," Red answered. He nodded his head towards me, "This is Tim. Tim, this is Dawn."

Something flashed behind Dawn's eyes but other than that, she betrayed nothing. "Nice to meet you, Tim." She shook my hand. "First time entering the tournament?"

I nodded. "I've only been at this for a year now."

"Well don't let this one get you down. Even the best trainers sometimes have a disheartening loss." She leaned into Red and poked him in the chest with a finger. "Like, remember that time that you-"

"I don't want to talk about it," Red cut her off. He looked back at me. "She's right though. Don't ever let a loss shake your confidence. Although it's never fun, losing is what helps you learn. You learn what works and what doesn't work. You learn what you should try next time and what you should never try again."

"Ooh! You mean like-" Dawn wasn't able to finish her sentence after Red put a hand over her mouth.

Red rolled his eyes and looked at me. "Anyways, it was nice meeting you. Hopefully we'll get to battle again so you can prove to yourself that this was just a fluke."

I smiled. "I'd like that."

"Don't let this get you down," Dawn chimed in, finally allowed to speak. "Your pokemon are going to get stronger as you progress throughout the tournament. If you continue to train in your spare time, if you were to meet the Elite Four you would be at least close to their level."

We shook hands and then I shook hands again with Dawn. The two of them strolled away, her arm looped through his. His pikachu rode on his shoulder which was rather impressive since those pokemon usually weigh in at around thirteen pounds. Dawn's piplup was content to just walk besides them. I smiled as I watched them disappear into the distance. They clearly had a special relationship that seemed to center on their mutual love for pokemon. It was the kind of relationship that most trainers would like to have some day.

I decided to take Red's advice and not let my loss to him get me down. Now that I had some space to myself, I copied the other trainers in the surrounding area and worked on perfecting my pokemon's moves. By the end of the day I was actually feeling pretty good about myself again. Satisfied with my progress, I packed up and headed back into town. Lead by text messages from Dylan, I met him and David at a restaurant not too far from our hotel.

That night, after we had all adjourned to our rooms, I tried to find Red in the trainer database. It was easy enough to search by name and there was definitely no one named Red. Clearly he had lied to me to make it harder for me to prepare for what I had decided was our eventual rematch. I guess I couldn't really blame him. I probably should've made up a name too. I searched for Dawn, the lady I assumed was his wife. She didn't show up either. Pulling up profiles of the top ten trainers in the power rankings and comparing their photos didn't produce a result. The idea of clicking on ever single profile in an effort to find one guy seemed ludicrous so I just went to bed.

Wednesday flew by and before I knew it, Thursday and the start of the Pokemon League had arrived.

As we walked up to the stadium that afternoon, it became clear that it was much larger than I had ever imagined. There was one primary ovaloid stadium that held a neutral field. That would be the primary battling field once the competition was down to just a few matches and had significantly more seating than any of the other attached fields. It also had a much larger surrounding field than the other battlefields to allow for all the trainers to be on it at once for ceremonies. High above it was a golden cauldron that would eventually hold the flame of Ho-oh. On either side of the longer part of the stadium was a smaller pod that also contained a neutral field. Those would be used when there was too many matches to have in one day on a single neutral field. This pair of fields had less seating than the primary field but more than the groups of fields at the "corners" of the primary field. There was a group of three fields at each "corner", each group containing a different elemental field; either rock, water, ice or grass. All the stadiums were connected via various walkways and tunnels and an uncountable number of vendors sold everything from funny drawings to ice cream shaped like a pikachu.

A huge line had formed behind a blockade of folding tables manned by event staff. Our huge mass was formed up into six different lines according to your last name. Once we reached the table, your trainer card hard to be swiped and a secondary ID had to be shown. After each were officially registered, they were issued their pass card. It was a laminated ID card basically that hung down on a lanyard long enough to hang down to about mid-torso. It gave the trainers name, ID number and even had a picture, the same one that was used on the website database. Those trainers that had been entered into the system began surging towards the stadium.

We followed the hoard into the main stadium. Spectators were allowed for the opening ceremony but only trainers were to be at this first part an hour before hand. We flowed into the seats and were herded down to the lowest seats by the event staff. It took a while to get everyone down to the bottom. Only a few feet away from the railing was a small stage. On it was a microphone and an elderly man. He was awfully thin judging from the way his clothes hung off him. A thick beard covered his face and despite his somewhat frail appearance, there was a glitter of life in his eyes.

"Hello everyone!" he said into the microphone once everyone was settled. "I'm Charles Goodshow, the president of the Pokemon League. I'd like to be the first to welcome you all to the Tournament!" He paused to allow us all to clap. "Now you should have all received your itineraries by now. If you haven't, please see one of our staffers. Anyone that is to battle today should have also been notified.

"Posted on the website is a detailed schedule for tomorrow. Everyone's battles have been scheduled for a precise time. Make sure you are at your designated field at least an hour before hand. You will need to get checked in and register your chosen pokemon. Remember, ignorance is no excuse. If you do not show up, you are disqualified.

"I know many of you know this already but for those of you who are new to the Tournament, there is a zero-tolerance policy. By entering this tournament, you are now a representative of the Pokemon League. If you are caught doing anything detrimental to the image of the Pokemon League, you will be removed from this tournament and possibly banned from future events. This is nonnegotiable."

He talked for a bit longer about the match rules. It was nothing out of the ordinary. Go until your opponent has no more pokemon and switching was allowed at any time. Once that was out of the way he gave us instructions for the opening ceremony. Mr. Goodshow went over everything again and then got his workers to shoo everyone out of the stands. It had to be a lot of work controlling a mob this size. Especially when a good chunk of it was teenagers like me and my friends. There was definitely a lot of older folks, well older than us, but I'd say the average age couldn't have been much higher than twenty-one.

The opening ceremony was certainly something to behold. I had seen it on television before, with all the trainers walking out in neat rows of six from the outside into the main field but being apart of it was something completely different.

I was probably about halfway back in the formation, flanked by my friends. As we got closer and closer, I could hear some kind of noise. It kept getting louder and louder. It was just a garble of noise. When we broke the plane of the entrance, I learned what it was: people cheering. In that short time that it had taken to get all the participating trainers out of the stands and into our formation, the stadium had filled back up with spectators. There wasn't an empty seat in the house. People were hooting and hollering. Some had signs or noisemakers. You could tell when a fan favorite from a previous year entered because the noise volume went up just a touch.

When all the trainers had entered the field, we closed the gaps with the trainers in front of and behind us so the doors would be able to be closed. Then our formation split right down the center. The three trainers on the left took a big step to their left and other side a big step to the right to form an aisle. The crowd cranked it up a few more decibels when a figure appeared in the entrance and began walking down the newly created aisle. In his hand was a torch he held aloft. It burned with a heat and power that I could sense as he walked past me. Once I got a closer look at him, I realized his name was Tyson and he was the winner of the tournament from last year. He wasn't the League Champion, just the Tournament Champion as his bid to defeat the Elite Four had fallen short.

Tyson carried the torch down the aisle and up a long flight of stairs that led to the golden cauldron. Flanking the cauldron were four figures that I couldn't make out. When I squinted, I realized there was actually five. Well, six if you counted Mr. Goodshow. There seemed to be two woman and three men. It could only be the Elite Four and the Champion. I now regretting my position in the formation. I wasn't close enough to see them and not far enough back that I could look at the huge video screens with my peripheral vision. We had been instructed to keep facing forward otherwise I would have had no problem turning to look at the screen.

The torch was presented to Mr. Goodshow when pushed it into the cauldron. The fire spread quickly and flames soon raged high above the stadium. The crowd went wild. Mr. Goodshow addressed the crowd, saying some words about good competition and the his pride in the new generation of trainers. I glanced at my watch and wondered if he was going to wrap it up soon. It was almost six. There were ten matches that still had to happen tonight and more importantly, I was hungry.

As if on cue, Mr. Goodshow wrapped up his speech to thunderous applause. We were given our cue to do an about-face and head back out of the stadium. I tried to sneak a glance at the video screen. The camera had moved off of the Elite Four though. Instead I saw the familiar faces of Professor Oak and Professor Birch. They were laughing and waving like they were having the time of their lives. I couldn't help but laugh too. As soon as the formation exited the stadium, it began to break up. Some trainers had the same idea as me and went for the food vendors. Even more flocked to the battlefields to secure a seat in the section that had been set aside for trainers. The first battles were to begin within the hour.

I missed the first battle while standing in line for a walking taco. It was totally worth it though because it was an amazing walking taco even if it did cost me seven bucks. I managed to find David in the stands of one of the smaller neutral fields. He got the people next to him to scoot over to make room for me. Once seated, he filled me in on the current match.

Trainer A seemed to be the crowd favorite. That didn't surprise me at all. Just going by his appearance, I would have been surprised if he was older than fifteen. He clearly had skills though. Trainer B was a woman who was probably closing in on thirty. She seemed to be the more experienced of the two and held the upper hand but the kid wasn't going quietly. The kid and his shiftry eventually fell to the woman and her purugly.

It was a good match and I ended up staying for the next match which was just a little less exciting. I debated staying for a third but I had work to do. The schedule for the next day was available and I needed to see it. The website had it as a PDF file and it was too large for my phone to open. David agreed with me and we headed back to the hotel.

Back in the hotel, I eagerly opened up the schedule file. It was clear why it was too big for my phone. Not only was every trainer in the tournament battling but they had included pictures along with our names. The only names that lacked pictures were those that had still to be decided by the matches currently being fought. At the bottom of the PDF was a note saying that the rest of the tournament would be kept track of on the website with real-time updates. It took me a few minutes to track down my name. I was listed under the second water battlefield and was the third match of the day, approximate start time of noon.

Well, at least I didn't have to think about my team too much. The water field almost demanded that you use mostly water typed pokemon. There were only five floating rafts that could hold up a pokemon but not even any pokemon. Steelix would sink like a rock if it tried to balance on one of those. A big, shiny rock. Swampert and Crawdaunt were the core of my team whether I liked it or not. Thinking back to what the database had said about me, I slipped the third pokemon into my team and arranged them in my belt holster.

I was ready. Now all I had to do was wait.


	52. Chapter 52

I didn't sleep a whole lot that night. A lot of it was spent staring up at the ceiling, thinking about possible strategies. I had looked up my opponent in the database before trying to go to sleep. Her name was Christine. She was from Minnesota and a few years older than me. It was also her first tournament as well and was ranked below me in the power rankings. Unfortunately, sifting through her listed pokemon didn't help much. She had caught a fairly sizeable number of pokemon and had been observed using at least five different water pokemon over the last year. There was no way for me to know which of those she would use, if any of them. It took a while but eventually I dozed off.

I got to the appropriate field at about quarter to eleven the next morning. After showing someone my pass, I was allowed into the trainers' area to get registered and prepare. A hallway split into two separate paths, each leading to a different locker room. I was the green trainer so I took the hallway painted green instead of the red one. Sitting in front of the locker room entrance was a worker at a table filled with papers and equipment. My identity was verified again and the worker asked for my three pokemon so they could be registered. I switched my third pokemon real fast and then panicked and switched them back before handing the poke balls to the worker. Once registered, I just had to hope I made the right choice.

The locker room looked like any other locker room I had been in. Rows of red metal grated lockers lined the walls with groups of benches in front of them. I wasn't sure why they were even there because no one used them. Showers were also available but those were even more underused than the lockers. The only area in the whole room that got any use was the small area with some worn couches and easy chairs that surrounded a group of monitors. Each one was pumping in a live feed of all the other battles currently going on. There was only one other trainer in the room. We exchanged nods as I sat down to watch the ongoing matches until my own began.

Time slowly ticked away. I caught something flashing on the edge of my vision. There was an electronic sign on the wall that I hadn't noticed before. It listed the two trainers currently on that field in big red letters against a black screen. Below them in smaller print was the names of the trainers on deck. My name was one of the two listed. I heard the other trainer in the room let out a low whistle and then the sign changed. The two trainers that had been listed were wiped away and my name slid up into the active match spot. A timer appeared below my name indicating that I had to be in my trainer's area in eleven minutes, giving the announcers enough time to introduce us to the television audience before the match officially began. I heaved myself out of my chair, used the restroom quickly and then headed for the exit.

I passed the trainer who had just battled in the hallway. He wished me luck. I thanked him and took a few more steps to reach the open air. The crowd let out a low rumble for me when I appeared on the video screen. I wasn't expecting much considering this was the first time I had entered and all. Across the field I could just see the figure of my opponent coming down her own hallway. The crowd gave her a polite round of applause as well. A few minutes passed before the referee took his position along the side of the field.

"Trainers!" he called out. "Direct your attention to the video screen! Who makes the first move is about to be decided!"

The screen had a new layout to it. It was divided into three sections: red on the left, black in the middle, and green on the right. At the top of the green section was my picture and atop the red was Christine's. There were three blank squares beneath both our images that would eventually display the pokemon we were using. In the black section was a circle with alternating slices of red and green. One would light, extinguish and then the next would light as the light swirled around the circle like a roulette wheel. It finally slowed to a stop, leaving a red slice as the final illuminated piece.

"Red trainer, you make the first move!" the ump declared as he pointed at my opponent.

She nodded and lofted a poke ball into the air. "Quagsire, let's go!"

"Right!" I said to myself. I knew all about quagsires since I had one of my own. It's dual type narrowed down my choice at least. "Crawdaunt, you're up!"

Crawdaunt was a lot bigger than Corphish had been. It also walked on two bigger back legs instead of the six smaller ones that its previous evolution had used. The pokemon still had two big pincers and now sported a smaller set of claw-like appendages. Most importantly, it had picked up the secondary typing of Dark. It stood there on its floating raft, trying to look intimidating to the quagsire on the opposite raft. Up on the video screen, a generic picture of a crawdaunt appeared in one of the blank spaces below my picture. A generic picture of a quagsire was already below Christine's picture.

"Quagsire, use rollout!"

"Counter with crab hammer!"

Quagsire dove forward and into a rapid spin. It actually rolled all the way across the surface of the water. Crawdaunt pulled back a glowing claw, waited for the right moment, and slammed it into Quagsire. Something happened and not what I wanted. Crawdaunt's claw almost seemed to liquefy and pass right through Quagsire. Unimpeded, Quagsire knocked Crawdaunt back before bouncing off and landing on one of the other four rafts.

"Interesting," I muttered. My quagsire didn't have that ability. My quagsire had the ability Damp. That was definitely Water Absorb. That was certainly going to make things a little more difficult.

"Crawdaunt, use-"

Christine cut me off. "Into the water!"

Quagsire took a step backwards and dropped out of sight. Its light blue skin made it hard to track in the water. I caught it making circles around the raft Crawdaunt inhabited like some lurking predator. It had the advantage underwater. The quagsire was more agile beneath the waves than my crawdaunt.

"Doesn't change a thing!" I pointed at the water. "Blast Quagsire out of there with dark pulse!"

Crawdaunt hefted its claws as balls of purple rings began to swirl inside them both. It lifted them above its head and then thrust them out, the balls bursting into beams of purple rings. The beams cut through the water and exploded. I could see Quagsire trying to flee. So could Crawdaunt. It tracked the swimming pokemon with a claw and then fired another beam. The dark-typed beam slammed into Quagsire, drove it to the bottom of the pool and exploded.

When all the water didn't start draining out, I wondered what in the world this pool was made out of.

"Quagsire, body slam!"

Quagsire came rocketing out of the water. It shot high into the air where it extended its arms and legs out as it began to drop. Having reached a considerable height, it was really starting to pick up speed. This could hurt a lot.

"Protect!"

Crawdaunt threw up its translucent shield. Quagsire crashed into it and bounced off.

"Focus blast!"

The second Crawdaunt had lowered its shield, Quagsire had begun to spin in the air. It did one complete flip and as it came up to face Crawdaunt again, it held the light blue orb between its hands. The water and ground pokemon heaved the orb at Crawdaunt. There was no chance to respond. The super-effective attack detonated against my pokemon and hurled it into the water.

"Rollout!" Christine yelled.

Quagsire kept up its spin and plunged into the water. The rotation it was creating underwater was sending pulses of water into my pokemon, keeping it from recovering quickly. Then Quagsire slammed into it, rebounded and reversed directions to slam into it again.

I cupped my hands around my mouth. "Metal claw!"

I saw the shimmer of silver and knew Crawdaunt had heard my command. The silver glow began blurry as it moved. Suddenly there were two things underwater heading different directions. One away from me, up one heading up. Crawdaunt burst out of the water and landed back on its raft. Quagsire regained control underwater and headed back for the surface.

"Muddy water!"

A jet of dirty brown water shot out of the pool. It caught Crawdaunt in the face and tipped it dangerously far backwards. Crawdaunt recovered in time to see a focus blast hurtling towards it. We tried to get a protective shield up but I wasn't fast enough in getting the order out. A charred Crawdaunt sizzled as it fell back into the pool. It clamped a pincer onto the raft to heave itself back up.

"Crawdaunt, return!" I ordered. The crowd offered up a nice applause. It probably wasn't for me. "Swampert, let's go!"

Now the odds had evened out a little. Swampert was just as mobile in the water as Quagsire. They also shared the same type for what it was worth. Up on the video board, the picture of Crawdaunt dimmed as a picture of a swampert appeared below it.

"Earthquake, Swampert!"

"Swam-pert!" Swampert hefted its mighty arms into the air and slammed them down onto its raft. The raft itself quaked but that was about it. Shockwaves rippled through the water and did nothing but make the other rafts bob around. I muttered a word I hoped the cameras didn't catch as I took a small step back. I had just made a huge strategic error.

"Focus blast!" Christine shouted.

Swampert was just rising back up to its full height when the focus blast pounded into its chest and exploded. Being the defensive beast that it was, Swampert only took a pair of step backwards.

"Ice beam!" I ordered.

Quagsire went into a graceful backwards dive. The blue lightning bolts passed just above it as my opponent's pokemon slipped into the water. Some small particles of ice formed along Quagsire's underbelly to indicate how close it had been. I could see it arcing around underwater, building up speed for something. Christine and her pokemon seemed to have some preplanned routines in place.

"Rollout!"

Quagsire came shooting out of the water in a high arc. Already spinning before it left the water, it carried a trail of water behind it as it began its descent.

I pointed at the falling pokemon. "Ice beam!"

The jagged blue bolts found there target. It worked better than I had hoped. The water around Quagsire froze instantly, encasing the pokemon in a falling icy tomb.

"Wait for it," I called, holding up a hand for patience. "Now! Hammer arm!"

From elbow to the tip of its fist, Swampert's right arm glowed white. It lunged forward and swung its arm like a club. The glowing forearm smashed into the frozen Quagsire. Chunks of ice went one way and Quagsire went another. Frozen in a very aerodynamic ball, Quagsire flew all the way across the field and crashed into the side barrier. It slumped down amongst the pile of ice that had fallen from its body.

"One more ice beam for good measure!" I called out.

The icy blast slammed Quagsire back into the wall again. This time when it slumped down, it didn't get back up.

"Quagsire is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Swampert is the winner!"

This time the crowd let out a real cheer. The square beneath Christine's picture on the video board faded to just show the outline of the quagsire picture, indicating it was no longer available for battle. A new picture bloomed to life below it as my opponent sent out her next pokemon.

I let out a low moan. "God dammit. I hate these things."

As big and pineapple-looking as ever, a ludicolo danced happily across the pond at me. Not only was it a difficult type combination to attack, it was equally hard to defend against. I was willing to bet that it knew at least one grass-type attack and that could be a death sentence for Swampert.

"Swampert, return!" I got my pokemon off the field before Christine could get an order out. I had an unused third pokemon but there was no sense in using it yet. Christine still had a third pokemon too. "Crawdaunt, come on back!"

"Ludicolo, use energy ball!"

"Protect!"

The green orb collided with Crawdaunt's protective green shield. The shield held up. Unfortunately, it was a decoy.

"Ludicolo, rain dance!"

"No!" I roared. "Crawdaunt, stop it with dark pulse!"

Ludicolo was already swaying side to side in its hula dance before Crawdaunt could get rid of its protect. The beams of purple rings slammed into Ludicolo, exploding and throwing it off its raft. It was too late. Dark clouds were quickly forming above the field. Rain began to fall. Not a heavy rain but still rain nonetheless. Now I just had to wait and see. Ludicolo was either going to get a speed boost or the rain was going to slowly heal the pokemon. I wasn't sure which was the worst case scenario.

"Hydro pump!" Christine yelled.

I got ready to call for Protect but instead of a huge blast of water coming out at Crawdaunt, Ludicolo came flying out of the water. It had shot its hydro pump at the base of the pool and was using the force of it to shoot itself out of the water. The big pokemon slammed into my crawdaunt butt-first. I was a little offended that Christine was using a variation of a trick that I had stolen from Dylan.

"Metal claw!"

I saw a flash of silver near the bottom of the pile of tangled pokemon limbs. Ludicolo was suddenly ejected from the pile. It belly flopped into the water but quickly climbed back up onto one of the platform rafts. Judging from how quickly it had gotten back onto that raft, I had to assume that it was getting a speed boost.

"Dark pulse!" I ordered.

My suspicions were confirmed as Ludicolo pirouetted around the two dark-type beams. That wasn't good. Neither of my two active pokemon were exactly speed demons. I was pretty sure Ludicolo might have been faster than Crawdaunt before its boost. Now it was probably faster than Swampert too.

"Hydro pump!"

"Get into the water!"

Crawdaunt jumped into the water a mere second before the huge blast of water would've blow it clear off its platform.

"Metal claw!"

Crawdaunt came rocketing back out of the water trailing a pincer glowing silver. Ludicolo managed to dodge the overhand swing. Crawdaunt landed on Ludicolo's raft and swung its claw in a backhand now. Ludicolo twirled on one leg to avoid it. Crawdaunt lunged with its other claw now. The big grass pokemon actually leapt over my pokemon and landed just behind it. I was actually surprised that the two pokemon could manage to stay on the same raft. There was barely any room left on there.

"Energy ball!"

The grass-type attack took Crawdaunt in its unprotected flank. The explosion pitched it forward and the pokemon crash-landed on another raft.

"Crawdaunt is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Ludicolo is the winner!"

I grimaced as the crowd cheered and Crawdaunt's picture on the video board went dark. I returned the pokemon to its ball and said to it, "Good work out there. You earned your rest."

Now I had to consider my options. I had Swampert already warmed up, having defeated Quagsire and taken very little damage. On the other hand, I still had my third pokemon completely undamaged but so did Christine. I looked up at the rain clouds. They were still there but they were thinning out. They'd be there for a bit longer still. I decided to hedge my bet that my third pokemon would be more useful against her third pokemon.

"Swampert, come on out!"

A low murmur ran through the crowd. I'm sure a lot of them didn't agree with my choice. Swampert's dual-typing made a grass-type attack like the energy ball Ludicolo had already shown incredibly dangerous. They didn't know what I knew though. They also didn't know what I was about to try.

"Ice beam, Swampert!" I shouted but instead of pointing at Ludicolo, I pointed up into the sky. "Use it on those rain clouds!"

Swampert reared back and blasted its ice beam into the sky. Confused by what I was attempting, Christine didn't order her pokemon to attack or anything. She simply watched what was happening along with the bewildered crowd.

The jagged blue bolts found the clouds and poured icy energy into the dark clouds. Slowly the color of the clouds began to change. They blackness of them faded to a light grey. The rain began not to stop but change. Some of it began thick and fluffy while some of it froze instantly. Swampert had just turned the rainstorm into a snowstorm.

"Holy shit that actually worked," I muttered as the crowd went wild. My eyes dropped back down from the sky to Ludicolo. "Swampert, use hammer arm!"

Christine was still so surprised by what had transpired she didn't react right away. Swampert launched itself from its platform and swatted Ludicolo off of its with a thunderous blow. Ludicolo turned its fall into a dive and came back up behind Swampert.

"Energy ball!"

"Block it!"

Swampert swung around and tried to club the energy ball out of existence with hammer arm. The attack detonated but the explosion still washed over my pokemon. The block had only been partially successful.

"Zen head butt!"

The top of Ludicolo's head glowed blue and Swampert was hit by a powerful psychic wave. The impact was strong enough to pitch it off its raft. Now both submerged, the two pokemon began chasing each other around. Ludicolo proved to be more agile in the water than I had expected. Swampert had it on the run using ice beam. Ludicolo was throwing energy balls back in response. The ice beams had the side effect of freezing large portions of the water. The two pokemon were quickly running out of room to swim.

"Back on the surface, Ludicolo!" Christine yelled and when Ludicolo had made it safely onto a raft, she added, "Keep Swampert pinned down there with energy ball!"

Ludicolo began hurling energy balls for all its worth. Swampert was able to avoid them but had no opportunity to retaliate. I wasn't sure what the point of this was. It wasn't like Swampert was going to run out of breath any time soon. I mean, the pokemon had gills. Then I noticed that the huge ice chunks Swampert had inadvertently made were now becoming smaller ice chunks when hit with energy balls and beginning to spread out. My pokemon was having to work harder to navigate through the ice pieces and was starting to have some close calls.

"Alright, enough of this!" I declared with a wave of my hand. "Swampert, get to the bottom of the pool!" I could just barely see my pokemon follow my orders through all the ice pieces. "Now use earthquake!"

When Swampert had used earthquake while on a raft, it had just sent out small waves. When used on the base of the pool, water began to churn and froth in a frightening way. The calm pool had turned into a stormy sea. Waves buffeted Ludicolo's platform and it had to fight to stay standing.

"Surface and use ice beam!"

Swampert exploded out of the water, limbs arched over making it look it was in some type of martial arts pose. It was launching its ice beam before it even landed on a raft. Ice beam knocked Ludicolo clear off its feet. It splashed down in the still churning pool.

"Hammer arms!"

Swampert launched back into the air, both arms glowing from tip to elbow. Ludicolo had just broken the surface when Swampert brought its arms crashing down on the grass-type pokemon's head. The two pokemon disappeared beneath the waves. There was a green explosion followed shortly there after by separate a shockwave of water. I had to hope that the second shockwave was Swampert retaliating. The water began to calm and a form floated to the surface.

"Ludicolo is unable to battle!" the ref announced as Ludicolo bobbed face up in the water, its jaw slack. "Swampert is the winner!"

A tired Swampert climbed back up onto a raft. Now the crowd was really going nuts. They had really enjoyed the drama of the underwater battle despite not being able to see much of it. Christine caught my eye across the field and nodded towards the crowd with a raise eyebrow. I gave her a small but genuine smile along with a miniscule shrug. No matter who won, we had at least put on a good show so far.

"Sharpedo, it's your time!" Christine called.

Unlike all the other pokemon we'd sent out, this one dove directly into the water. It jetted around the pool and I could occasionally catch glimpses of the big dorsal fin or the yellow star making on its dark blue snout. When it leapt out of the water gnashing its teeth, it was obvious that it was basically a giant head with lots of sharp teeth. It was clearly a vicious pokemon.

I, for one, was relieved to see it.

"Finally!" I exclaimed with a sigh. "Swampert, return!"

I pitched my next pokemon onto the field. Christine gasped. Big orange and brown ears perked up at the noise the crowd was making. A long tail swished through the air, its lightning bolt-like tip sparking as it snapped in a direction change. Orange fur rippled in the slight breeze.

"Rai rai rai," it cackled.

Using the thunderstone on my pikachu had resulted in almost a bipolar raichu. It had been a little vicious as a pikachu but now it was downright bloodthirsty in battle. Outside of battle though, Raichu was loving and cheerful as could be. It had even taken to giving people and pokemon "pounds" after it had seen me and Dylan do it once. I was just glad that there was finally a pokemon weak to electricity on the field.

"You know what to do, Raichu! Thunder!"

Raichu plunged its tail into the water. The whole pond exploded in a brilliant column of yellow light that reached for the sky. I tried to stand there and look awesome but I eventually had to throw an arm over my eyes to shield them from the light. It only lasted for less than ten seconds but that was probably seven seconds too long. When the light faded, Sharpedo floated in the steaming water.

"Sharpedo is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Victory to the green trainer!"

"Yes!" I threw my hands into the air in a victory pose. Raichu turned to me, a look of pure joy on its face. It extended a paw and I gave it the air pound it was waiting for. The crowd was going ballistic now.

After collecting my pokemon, I headed back into the locker room. I was stopped by an event staffer to remind me to check the website for my match time and place tomorrow. I had to swipe my ID card to register my victory and then I was free to go. My phone was blowing up with text messages. My mom, a school teacher, had been allowed to stream the webcast in her classroom since it was the final day of school. Exams at my and Dylan's high school had apparently been rescheduled so anyone there could watch both my match and Dylan's. I had collected at least thirty messages in the last ten minutes.

One popped up from David that read _Did you see the light show at water field?_

I responded with _Yeah, my bad_.

Another one came back that said _Seriously._

To which I replied _Seriously._

He sent one final one saying that he was in the stands of grass field number two where Dylan was battling. I found my way out of the area surrounding the water field I had just won on and began navigating the crowds to get to the grass fields. It was just my luck that the grass fields were on the complete opposite side of the complex than the water fields. By the time I found my way there and found David in the crowd, the battle was well underway.

Dylan was in firm control of the battle. The video board showed that he had already knocked out two of his opponent's pokemon and only lost one of his own. I squinted at the board. It looked like he had lost Croagunk and still had Gliscor and Venusaur at his disposal. I wasn't sure what his opponent had lost but he still had a tangrowth on the field facing off against Gliscor.

"So that big flash of light from the water fields was you?" David asked as I dropped into the seat he had managed to save for me. He offered me some of his popcorn which I gladly accepted.

"Guilty as charged," I replied through a full mouth and explained what Raichu had done. "Totally worked better than I had expected. One-hit knock-out."

On the field, Dylan shouted, "Gliscor, X-scissor!"

"Your battle went well," I guessed, snatching another handful of popcorn. "I assume you wouldn't still be here if it didn't."

David nodded. "I don't care much for the ice field. I don't have any pokemon that it favors."

On the field, Gliscor drove its glowing claws into Tangrowth. The big mound of vines was thrown violently backwards. Tangrowth retaliated with a power whip that Gliscor flew around. Dylan's pokemon latched on with its claws and drove a fire fang into Tangrowth's midsection. Only one pokemon emerged from the explosion. Dylan was declared the victor.

"Well that was fun," I said, standing and stretching like I had been there for hours. "Glad I raced over for that."

David didn't stand. Instead he pointed at one of the trainers emerging for the next battle. "Hey, see that guy? I remember him from that tournament in Virginia."

I looked at the guy David was indicating. He was fairly built, pretty tall and had spiked hair with frosted tips. He looked like he was probably a world-class douche. I said as much.

"He is," David confirmed. "I remember him complaining because he wasn't allowed to use the same pokemon for every battle. Apparently he has a machoke that he thinks is the shit. He only uses that, I guess."

"A machoke?" I asked, sitting back down. "Why doesn't he evolve it into a machamp?"

"Probably because he's a world-class douche and no one will help him out."

I got a good laugh out of that. Out of sheer curiosity, we waited until the next match started. Apparently the guy had found someone to help him out because his machoke had evolved to a machamp now. They flexed their muscles and posed in sync. Other trainers were looking away, embarrassed to be associated with him.

"I hope he gets stomped," I said as we got up to leave.

"I wouldn't count on it," David said over my shoulder as we descended the steps to the exit. "If he only uses that one pokemon, it's probably quite strong. Although, I'd guess he mostly works on offense. Maybe it sucks defensively."

Outside the stands we met up with Dylan. He and I still had to heal our pokemon. After we waited in line to get them restore, we loaded up on snacks and headed back into the stadiums. We spent the rest of the day hopping from stadium to stadium and taking in as much as we could. It ended up being worth it in even more than an entertainment sense. Seeing almost a dozen battles started to give us an idea of what kind of pokemon we might run into. Thankfully, we didn't see any trainers wielding legendary pokemon. Although we didn't see any pseudo-legendary pokemon, there were rumblings through the crowd that there was at least one trainer with one. What we did see was a surprising amount of Generation Five pokemon. I would've expected to see maybe two or three. We saw eight.

Darkness had fallen by the time we got back to the hotel. Instead of all being by ourselves like the previous night, we gathered up our computers and congregated in David's room. We decided that it might be a good idea to have someone to bounce ideas off of as we planned for our next bouts.

The website was completely updated. I found myself in the schedule for Rock Field Three at four in the afternoon. Dylan and David were both battling on water fields. David on field one at noon and Dylan on field three at six. They asked me my thoughts on the water fields. There wasn't a whole lot to say. I compared it to battling Lucas at the water-type gym and recommended that all their pokemon be able to swim.

I pulled up my opponent's profile and studied it. He was actually from Canada but with his blonde hair and striking blue eyes, he looked more Swedish. Kevin was his name and he was closer to thirty than twenty. As I scrolled through the list of his known pokemon, I began to wonder the use. A rock field didn't really dictate the type of pokemon you had to use like a water field did. Any pokemon could operate effectively on a rock field. There was no real boost to rock-type moves. Some pokemon might feel more at home but that was it. Keeping this in mind, I assembled my team.


	53. Chapter 53

I stared across the field at my opponent, Kevin. He had been selected to make the first move and so I waited. David had already won his match this afternoon and now it was my turn. I felt like I had taken a little bit of a risk with my team and my heart beat just a touch quicker for it. The cameras and the people were beginning to be less distracting now that I'd dealt with them before.

"Shiftry, you're first!" Kevin announced.

I had never seen a shiftry up close before. It was humanoid but with skin the color of bark. It had a single prong on the bottom of each foot that it stood atop, reminding me of some ancient Japanese sandle. Instead of fingers, each hand was a trio of big leaves. A huge white, furry mane ran from the top of its mouth all the way over its head and down its back. Angry eyes stared out from beneath the mane at me.

"Right!" I said, feeling even more confident about my choice now. "Steelix, let's go!"

Steelix burst onto the field. Shiftry immediately took a step back, probably not in fear but more to allow for Steelix's massive bulk. The rock spires that littered the field didn't bother my pokemon one bit. It simply crushed them if they got in its way. Steelix lowered its head to look Shiftry in the eye. To the grass-type's credit, it didn't flinch. It stared back with its cold yellow eyes.

"Shiftry, use shadow ball!"

"Block it with iron tail!"

Shiftry held up its two leafy hands together and the black orb fired out from them. Moving quickly for a creature of its size, Steelix had slithered back and snapped its glowing tail around. Impact with the shadow ball stopped Steelix's tail's progress but the ghost-type attack detonated.

"Now Steelix," I called, "use ice fang!"

My steelix was fast. I had purposely worked with it during the spring to increase that particular stat. Shiftry, however, was light-years beyond us. It actually backflipped away from the jagged blue bolts, landed horizontally against a rock spire and launched itself back at Steelix.

"Brick break!" Kevin shouted.

Sparks crackled around Shiftry's right hand and it slammed it down on Steelix's head. Steelix was driven down but quickly recovered and slipped away.

"Smash it with iron tail!"

Steelix whipped around and smashed its tail into the ground. Rubble and debris went everywhere. Shiftry somehow managed to avoid the initial impact but was showed with rock pieces.

"Double team!"

Suddenly there were shiftry everywhere. When I had seen double team used in the past, usually a ring of copies surrounded my pokemon or there was a line of them. These copies were everywhere. Standing on spires, in holes or actually moving around independently of each other. I had never seen a double team so intense.

I didn't panic though. I had a plan, possibly even a good one. "Steelix, use dig!"

The steel snake disappeared into the ground, taking a pair of illusionary pokemon with it. The shiftry all tensed, waiting for Steelix to emerge. Now I knew I had been on the right track. This double team was amazing but it took a serious amount of concentration to maintain all these illusions, let alone illusions that were moving independently. Now with Shiftry bracing for impact its concentration was limited. Now all I needed was for it to make a move. Steelix should be able to at least get a general idea of where the real Shiftry was.

Shiftry took a step back.

"Now!" I yelled.

Steelix exploded out of the ground, scattering shiftry and rubble everywhere. The shiftry all disappeared, except one.

"Ice fang!"

Shiftry wasn't about to land and recover in time. The blast of icy lightning slammed into Shiftry's back and drove it through a spire. I held my breath that I might get lucky and the round would be over. I had no such luck as Shiftry was back up faster than I would've thought possible.

"Leaf storm!"

The white mane on Shiftry glowed green and actually lifted away from its body. A barrage of leaves erupted from it, forming a spiral and slamming into Steelix. My pokemon was thrown back, fighting to stay upright.

"Flash cannon!"

Suddenly a beam of shimmering silver was pressing back against the leaf storm. The beam was emitting from Steelix's wide jaws and forced the leafy attack back enough that it was no longer damaging my pokemon. The two attacks became unstable and detonated in a cyclone of silver and green energy. Shiftry came soaring through the explosion, hand cocked back to use brick break.

"Iron tail!"

Unless you're a flying-type, there's no way to dodge in midair.

Steelix's tail slammed down on Shiftry. Hard. There was an indent in the ground probably three feet deep and Shiftry was at the bottom on it. Oddly enough, Kevin didn't seem to even be considering switching his pokemon. At that point, I would've swapped out for a fresh pokemon. Heck, I was considering switching just to change up the pace.

"Shiftry, use shadow ball!"

The hole that contained Shiftry exploded with shadow balls. Dozens of them came flying out, slamming into and exploding against my steelix. Moments ago, victory had seemed almost certain. Now it was back up in the air again.

"Shiftry, return!" Kevin commanded, finally doing what I had expected him to do. "Rhyperior, go!"

It had been a while since I had seen a rhyperior. Sure, David had one but I hadn't battled it. My only real experience had come when battling one while trying to escape from Pallet Town. It hadn't exactly been an ideal situation for studying the creature. It still looked an awful lot like a rhydon, only with rocky orange plates covering parts of its already thick hide. There was also an extra horn on its head. The arms had been elongated to compensate for whatever internal mechanism allowed it to fire things out of the holes in its hands. It seemed like an odd switch though. Every attack Steelix had used would be super-effective against Rhyperior.

"Steelix, flash cannon!"

"Rock wrecker!"

Rhyperior raised its hands above its head. From the two holes in its palms, rocks began to shoot out. The rocks smashed into each other and fused together to create an enormous boulder outlined in red. With little effort, Rhyperior flung the boulder into the oncoming flash cannon. The steel-type beam blew apart the boulder but faded away itself. Rhyperior took a deep breath and didn't move.

"Hit it while it's resting!" I shouted. "Ice fang!"

The recharge time from rock wrecker gave Rhyperior no chance to block or dodge. The two icy jets slammed into the rock pokemon's chest and threw it backwards. It rolled back to its feet, the recharge time apparently past.

"Flamethrower!"

Rhyperior thrust out its arms, palms forward. Fire erupted from the holes in its hands. The two blasts of fire combined into one powerful one that slammed into Steelix. Steelix roared and crashed to the ground. That was unexpected.

"Steelix, return!" I had a choice to make but I made it quickly. "Sceptile, go!"

Purposely sending in a pokemon when the opponent had just demonstrated a powerful attack that would be super-effective send a murmur through the crowd. Sure it was risky but to me, it seemed like a good plan. Rhyperior was not a fast pokemon while Sceptile ranked amongst the fastest known pokemon. I was confident that my pokemon could avoid the flamethrower.

"Sceptile, leaf blade!"

"Hammer arms!"

As Sceptile raced in, Rhyperior's forearms began to glow white. Rhyperior slammed a fist down but Sceptile slithered undneath and slashed a glowing green blade across Rhyperior's chest. Rhyperior swung its other arm. Sceptile used its powerful legs to jump right over Rhyperior, twisting around and slashing with another leaf blade.

"Get clear and use energy ball!" I shouted as Sceptile jumped back to avoid another hammer arm.

"Flamethrower!"

The green orb slammed into the gout of fire and the two attacks detonated.

"Rhyperior, return!" Kevin had apparently decided that his rock-type had had enough. "Shiftry, back out!"

I found that interesting but put it out of my mind. "Sceptile, use leaf blade!"

"Brick break, Shiftry!"

Sceptile's blade was met with a sparking leafy fist. The power of the attacks forced the two pokemon apart. They charged back in with the same result.

"X-Scissor, Sceptile!"

A light blue glow came over Sceptile's claws. The pokemon slashed its claws across Shiftry, leaving visible streaks in the air in the shape of an X. Not expecting that, Shiftry was hurled backwards and was having trouble getting back up. There wasn't much left in its tank.

I had a decision to make and I took the first real risk of my tournament career. "Sceptile, return!" Now there was a real rumbling in the crowd. I had Shiftry on the ropes and it appeared I was taking my foot off the gas. Well, the crowd didn't know what I knew. "Krokorok, go!"

There was actually a moment of quiet as most of the crowd saw a pokemon they'd never seen before. Now I'd show them what I was up to.

"Krokorok, use brick break!"

Kevin snapped back to the moment. "Shiftry, brick break!"

Shiftry was probably faster than Krokorok but not in its worn down state. Krokorok ducked under Shiftry's brick break before driving one of its own into Shiftry's chin. Shiftry's head snapped back. For a moment, nothing happened. Then Shiftry slowly tipped over backwards.

"Shiftry is unable to battle!" the ref declared. I had to feed him my pokemon's name before he could continue with, "Krokorok is the winner!"

As Shiftry was removed from the field, a glow washed over Krokorok. Its eyes got big and all its muscles bulged. Not an enormous bulge but definitely noticeable. Everyone saw it but very few knew what it was. Last I knew, the name being tossed around for this particular ability was Moxie but more importantly, my pokemon's attack had just been amped up.

"Rhyperior, go!" There was something about Kevin's facial expression that told me he was waiting for something. Or maybe hoping. It dawned on me that he was hoping I'd send Sceptile back out. Whatever pokemon he had left he didn't want to have to face Sceptile. I'd have to disappoint him.

"Krokorok, use dig!"

My pokemon disappeared underground. Rhyperior tried to flush it out by launching a stone edge that it tried to drive deep into the ground. There was no response from Krokorok. Rhyperior tried to crush the ground with hammer arms where it thought Krokorok might appear. Krokorok exploded out of the ground right between Rhyperior's arms. A driving uppercut knocked the big rock-type back several paces.

"Stone edge!" Kevin and I shouted.

Rings of white spots turned into pointed stone shards that flew at the pokemon. Normally, Krokorok's attack might've been overwhelmed. With its attack boost, it was equal to Rhyperior's.

"Brick break!"

Krokorok launched itself at its foe through the falling rock dust. The impact of the brick break was thunderous. Rhyperior staggered back and teetered dangerously far back on one leg. It gathered itself and began to charge for a rock wrecker.

"Crunch!"

Its teeth glowed white and grew slightly sharper as the ground- and dark-type pokemon clamped down on Rhyperior, just below the left elbow. Now Rhyperior was holding a giant boulder above its head with no way to aim it at its target. It flailed around, Krokorok swinging with it like a flag in the wind.

"Ready?" I called out. "Now! Dig!"

Timing it just right, Krokorok released its grip and was launched into the air. With a flurry of limbs it disappeared back underground. Rhyperior hurriedly flung its boulder but even if it had been in time, its aim was no good. Now it was stuck recharging. Krokorok ripped out of the ground with a full body tackle. Rhyperior was completely laid out.

"Time to finish it!" I stuck out a hand, palm out. "Brick break!"

Krokorok leapt into the air. Sparks crackled around the fist it drive into Rhyperior's stomach. Despite the heavy armor, the big pokemon folded right up.

"Rhyperior is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Krokorok is the winner!"

Energy flowed off of Krokorok and its muscles bulged as Moxie kicked back in again.

Then it exploded in white light.

Even I was caught off guard by this. I hadn't realized that my pokemon could evolve again. When the light faded, the pokemon retained the same basic form that it had had as a krokorok, only bigger. It had swapped its brown color for red and a pink belly for white but its stripes remained black. The long snout had narrowed a little though and the claws on the hands and feet were even bigger than they had been. I had to admit, it looked a heck of a lot more dangerous now.

I whistled to get the pokemon's attention. "We need to stop doing this in public settings. What do I call you?"

"Krookodile!" it responded with a three-fingered thumbs up.

"Game on then, Krookodile!" I gave it a thumbs up of my own, secretly pleased it had only taken me one time to get the pokemon's name.

As Kevin changed pokemon, I saw I was right in my thinking that he didn't want his final pokemon to face Sceptile. The gelatinous pink body and brown shell of a gastrodon was now on the field. Now it was me who was faced with the decision. I had Krookodile, fresh off its evolution and brimming with power but at a type disadvantage. Or I had Sceptile who yielded grass-type attacks that would be doubly super-effective.

I decided to go with the hot hand. "Krookodile, use stone edge!"

As stones swarmed around my pokemon, dirty water erupted from the base of Gastrodon. The muddy water slammed into the stone edge and completely neutralized it. Krookodile had to use dig to avoid getting washed away.

"Earthquake!" Kevin shouted and Krookodile was forcefully ejected from the ground.

"Sorry, Krookodile, but return!" I felt a little guilty killing the pokemon's groove but I had to be smart about this. I would need it fresh if Gastrodon somehow bested Sceptile. "Sceptile, go! Use energy ball!"

Gastrodon tried to defend with muddy water again but the energy ball was a harder target to hit than a big group of rocks. The grass-type attack exploded and sent the water pokemon flying.

"Recover!"

"Oh no you don't!" I shouted. "Leaf blade!"

A gold aura had just begun to wash over Gastrodon when Sceptile arrived. A slashing green blade cut the attack short and threw Gastrodon back again. Sceptile gave chase and drove another blade into it. The gulf between the speed of the two pokemon was enormous. Gastrodon couldn't retreat fast enough to counter-attack before Sceptile sliced it for a third time.

I threw out a fist. "Finish it with energy ball!"

Sceptile jumped into the air and formed the energy ball above its head. It came down and drove the attack down onto Gastrodon. The water- and ground-type pokemon disappeared in the green explosion along with my own pokemon. Only one pokemon exited the explosion.

"Gastrodon is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Victory to Sceptile and the red trainer!"

I tried to play this one cool since it wasn't my first League victory. There was some fist-pumping but I managed to restrain myself from further celebration. As I was trying to head back into the locker room, I was stopped by a television reporter who wanted to ask me a few questions. I agreed.

"So tell me," the pretty female reporter said, "what was your logic in pulling your sceptile out when it had Shiftry on the ropes? Our announcers have yet to come up with a reason that they could understand."

I laughed. "Well the answer is simple enough: Moxie."

"Moxie?" she repeated into her microphone and then extended it back to me.

"Moxie," I confirmed. "It was Krokorok's ability. At least that's what I'm pretty sure they're calling it. When it defeats an opponent, it gains a strength boost. I saw Shiftry almost done for and I knew Krokorok had an attack that would be super-effective. That extra power boost would allow Krokorok to go head to head with more experienced pokemon. Like that rhyperior."

"Were you worried about it backfiring?"

"Sure but there's risk to any plan. If it didn't work, I was confident in Sceptile and Steelix to clean my mistake."

The reporter thanked me for my time and hurried off with her camera crew in tow. I wiped the film of sweat off my forehead and wished I had thought to do that before going on camera. Maybe they could edit that out.

Inside the locker room there was a event staffer leaning against a row of lockers.

"Tim." It wasn't a question.

"That's me," I replied, wondering if I were in trouble.

"Come with me," he said. "There's a conference room waiting in the main stadium."

I pressed the worker for more details as he lead me out of the locker room and to the main stadium. At first he played coy but eventually admitted that he didn't actually know who he was bringing me to. He swiped a key card and we entered the restricted area. A flight of stairs led us up to a hallway devoid of everything but doors. Clearly this wasn't an area a lot of people saw. My guide indicated a door and said he'd wait out in the hallway.

A voice greeted me as soon as I opened the door. "Ah, Tim! There you are!"

"Oh, hey, Professor," I said with a smile. "I probably should've guessed it was you who wanted to see me."

There was a big square conference table taking up most of the room with a dozen padded leather chairs around it. Three of the chairs had swiveled towards me. One held Professor Oak. It took me a moment to connect names to the faces of the other two people there.

"Tim, let me introduce you," Oak said as he climbed out of his chair. "First, we have Professor Rowan, expert in pokemon evolution."

Rowan rose and I realized he was quite tall. A bushy gray mustache met his equally gray sideburns. Despite all the gray, he still had all his hair. His handshake was firm and I could feel the calluses on his hands.

"Nice to meet you," Rowan said, reminded me that he was actually Scottish. "I've heard a lot about you."

"Next we have Professor Juniper," Oak said, turning to the female.

I don't have any issues saying this: Professor Juniper was kind of hot. Her light brown hair was piled atop her head in a stylized messy look. The white top really brought out the green in her eyes that matched her green skirt.

"A pleasure," I finally managed to get out. Regaining my composure, I said, "So why am I here?"

"Simple," Rowan scoffed. "We'd like to see your new pokemon."

"Oh, right. Duh." I probably should've seen that one coming.

I found the correct poke ball and touched the button to release its contents. Krookodile managed to contain its surprise that it wasn't back on the battlefield. It had already met Professor Oak but I introduced the pokemon to the other Professors.

"Quite fascinating," Juniper murmured. She stooped down to get a closer look at Krookodile's jaws. The pokemon stretched them open obligingly.

I rolled my eyes. "Suck up."

The three professors observed my pokemon for probably at least fifteen minutes or so. Each of them jotted down notes on a pad of paper with the exception of Juniper, who used her iPad instead.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Rowan said, turning to me, "but you do possess a fraxure, evolution of axew?"

"Yes sir, I do."

He nodded sagely. "Good. Please keep me up to date on that pokemon, if you please. There has been whisperings that there is an evolution of fraxure but there has been no corroborating evidence. If you do experience such a thing, do let me know."

"It's the least I can do," I said.

Rowan smiled. "Good kid. You remind me of your father."

That comment took me by surprise. "My father? You knew my father, too?"

"Of course!" Rowan said with a laugh. "He and Professor Oak were good friends so naturally I met him. A fine trainer. I'm sure you make him proud." He paused. "Your father isn't here, is he?"

I shook my head. "He and my mom couldn't get away from work. My mom's a teacher. They're planning to head over for the next round. Well, assuming I make it that far."

"You've shown a lot of promise, m'boy," Rowan said, surprising me with the compliment. "If you didn't at least advance beyond the initial sixty-four of the next round, I'd be shocked." He placed a heavy hand on my shoulder. "You and your friends stood toe-to-toe with Team Rocket. This should be a piece of cake compared to that."

I grinned. "It's certainly less pressure."

Rowan laughed. "That's the spirit."

Something clicked in the back of my mind. His mention of my friends had done it. Dylan's match was supposed to be starting shortly. It took a few more minutes for me to extract myself from the conversation before I could start hustling for the water fields. My guide who had waited in the hallway took me a different way out that placed me closer to the water fields. A glance at my watch told me that I was still going to be late.

"Where've you been?" David asked when I finally found him in the crowd some fifteen minutes later. "This match might be over already."

I looked up at the scoreboard for the first time. All three squares under Dylan's picture were lit up, indicating he had already entered all three of his pokemon into battle. The three squares showed pictures of a gyarados, electivire and feraligatr. His opponent's showed a darkened cloyster and an active swampert that Dylan literally just defeated with his gyarados' hyper beam to leave just one remaining pokemon.

"Geez," I said. "He's really taking this guy to school, isn't he?"

"It hasn't been pretty so far," David agreed. "Curtis, the other guy, I think is one of the people that had to battle just to get in."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "I guess he's lucky he got this far. He does look pretty young."

Curtis had dark skin and a face that made him look about ten years old. I knew he was older than that just by the way he carried himself and the sound of his voice but he still looked like a kid. He stared intently at his final poke ball that he held in his hand. If I didn't know any better, I'd think he was regretting his choice.

"Ferrothorn, go!" he shouted.

The crowd all rose up. This was a pokemon we'd never seen before. The main body was silver and roughly ovaloid with sharp spikes jutting out in rings separated by black stripes. Yellow eyes that were rimmed in green stared out at its opponent. Three appendages emerged from the top of the pokemon that operated like feet. They were long, almost vine-like, with spiked discs at their ends that reminded me a bit of Ferrothorn's main body.

"Damn," I breathed. "Never seen anything quite like that."

"I wonder what type it is," David wondered aloud. "All that silver makes me think steel but that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It wouldn't be at a disadvantage but it'd also have no real advantage."

Down on the field, Dylan seemed as perplexed as the rest of us. He was clearly struggling with what he should do now. He could either switch out his pokemon for a fresher one or take his chances with Gyarados. There wasn't enough information for him to make the call on so he ended up leaving Gyarados on the field.

"Gyarados, use hyper beam!" Dylan shouted.

"Ferrothorn, flash cannon!"

From in between Ferrothorn's eyes, the shimmering silver ball welled up into existence. It exploded out into a beam at the same time the yellow orb of energy Gyarados had been gathering did the same. They slammed together and detonated. The explosion nearly threw Ferrothorn off its raft. Despite entering its recovery phase, Gyarados managed to not be thrown back.

"Thunderbolt!"

Ferrothorn erupted with lightning. Still recovering, Gyarados never had a chance to do anything. The dragon-like pokemon roared in pain before crashing down into the pool. A wave washed over the edge, soaking the shoes of the judge.

"Come on, Gyarados!" Dylan yelled. "Get up! Get up! Get up and use ice beam!"

Although I'd like to take credit for the tactic used next, I was pretty sure I wasn't the first to do it. Ferrothorn jabbed one of its appendages into the water and the whole pool erupted in yellow light. It wasn't quite the light show Raichu and I had put on, but then again, we had used Thunder.

"Gyarados is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Ferrothorn is the winner!"

Dylan made an unhappy face as he recalled his pokemon. Not only had he lost a pokemon, he was no closer to figuring out just what type his opponent was using. Flash cannon and thunderbolt were moves that were available to almost all types of pokemon.

"What would you do here?" I asked David.

He thought for a moment. "I might use Electivire. One water pokemon already got fried so we know that'd just happen again to Feraligatr. Using Electivire reduces the moves that Ferrothorn can use too, unless it wants to give Electivire a speed boost."

Although not part of the conversation, Dylan concurred. Electivire was sent out to do battle with the mystery opponent.

"Flash cannon!" Curtis shouted.

"Thunder!"

Electivire thrust its hands out forward as it exploded in a huge lighting bolt. The yellow blast slammed into the silver beam and detonated into a rather beautiful yellow and silver fireball. Electivire then burst through the explosion using giga impact. It slammed into Ferrothorn with enough force to dislodge the pokemon from its raft. Instead of a nice, normal landing though, Electivire seemed to land awkwardly like it had hurt itself.

"What the hell was that?" David asked and Dylan's expression said he was asking himself the same thing.

"It got hurt," I said. "Electivire got hurt when it hit Ferrothorn. Maybe its got some kind of variation of Rough Skin or something."

While Electivire was recovering, Ferrothorn clawed its way back up onto the raft. Its appendages glowed a bright green as they wrapped themselves around Electivire. Dylan's pokemon roared in pain as the glow intensified.

I involuntarily rose out of my seat. "That's giga drain! It's a grass-type! Maybe a grass/steel-type! Has there ever been one of those?"

"I don't think so," David said, almost coming out of his seat too. "Man, what do you hit that with? It'd only be weak to… fighting and fire?"

Dylan didn't have either of those elements at his command so his pokemon erupted in lightning. Thunder was enough to make Ferrothorn loosen its grip. An ice punch cleared some room between the pokemon and allowed Electivire to jump back to another raft. It shook out its hand when it landed, clearly having been effected by touching Ferrothorn again. Not only did Ferrothorn take hits like a champ, you couldn't touch it without hurting yourself.

"I think I want one of those," David said.

There was a moment of hesitation and then it seemed like Dylan had made an adjustment. He had completely abandoned ice punch and giga impact in favor of thunder and thunder punch. It didn't make a lot of sense to me. Ferrothorn could withstand whatever thunder blasts it took that it didn't black with flash cannon and the same went for thunder punches it didn't counter with poison jab. Dylan had abandoned his only attack that actually caused average damage in ice punch.

"What's he up to?" David asked himself as much as me. "Is he just buying time for his feraligatr?"

The mention of Feraligatr was what did it.

I snapped my fingers. "That's it!"

"Buying time for Feraligatr?"

"No, not buying time but setting up for," I corrected. "If he sends in Feraligatr in now, it'll get fried from a thunderbolt before it can attack. He's trying to paralyze Ferrothorn!"

As if on cue, yellow sparks crackled around Ferrothorn after Electivire avoided a poison jab and slammed a thunder punch into Ferrothorn. The big steel pokemon took a step back and winced.

"Electivire, return!" Dylan knew it was now or never. "Feraligatr, go!"

"Ferrothorn, use thunderbolt!"

Being struck with paralysis doesn't necessarily mean completely immobilized. A blast of lightning slammed into Feraligatr, hurling it off its raft. The crowd nearly came out of their seats. Everyone had known this was Dylan's best shot. There was an audible sigh of relief as a blue and red claw emerged from the water to drag the pokemon's bulk back onto a raft. Feraligatr did not look especially well after taking that hit.

"Ferrothorn, another thunderbolt!" Curtis could sense this was his moment.

Lightning crackled but this time it immobilized Ferrothorn.

Even from my seat I could see Dylan's eyes get big. "Feraligatr, superpower!"

Feraligatr reared back and flexed. Huge biceps and pectoral muscles pushed against its blue skin as a light blue aura washed over the pokemon. Dropping into a crouch for maximum launching power, Feraligatr flew across the water field at Ferrothorn. The water pokemon delivered a solid right hand right between Ferrothorn's eyes. Despite the grip its spiky appendages had, the pokemon went flying. It smashed into the arena wall where it slumped to the ground.

"Ferrothorn is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Victory to Feraligatr and the red trainer!"

Dylan looked visibly relieved. He waited until Curtis had gathered up his pokemon before making a quick trot around the pool to where he was standing. Dylan offered his hand and the two opponents shook. My friend leaned in closer and offered some words that I couldn't hear. They must have been encouraging because Curtis' face formed into a genuine smile. With a final clap on the shoulder, Dylan headed back to his locker room.

David and I met up with Dylan back outside the arena. We took a moment to congratulate each other on our advancements in the tournament. When formalities were out of the way, food was the next order. Although there was no way the concession stand food could possibly be healthy, the discount we got for being active participants was too much to pass up.

After our bellies were full we all only had one thing on our minds: training.

I had gone to both David and Dylan's matches and each of them had had close calls. While this match had gone better, my first match was no walk in the park. If we wanted to keep advancing, we were going to have to keep improving and that meant working with our pokemon that hadn't battled today. We slipped away from the arenas and into the heart of the city. There wasn't a whole lot of sunlight left by the time we were able to secure enough working space but we made the most of it.

"I think that was a good exercise," Dylan said as we were walking back to our hotel. We were all sweating like we had just exercised even though it was our pokemon doing the real work.

I took a swig from the water bottle I'd bought from a street vendor. "Agreed. I feel like I made some real progress. I feel a lot better about this next round now."

"You were worried?" David asked, surprised. "About battling on a grass field?"

In truth, I wasn't worried. At first I had been though because when I pulled up the tournament's website on my phone, the cramped proportions had made it look as if David and I would be battling. That had sent a jolt of fear through me. Instead we were battling at the same time on different fields. Although we had battled many times before and I was fairly certain I had come out on top in most of them, David was one of those trainers that I would rather not come up against in an important tournament like this. All his pokemon were extremely powerful because he didn't have as many to cycle through like Dylan and I did. He had recently closed the numbers gap considerably but his core group had probably seen more action than mine. I refused to admit my hesitation to battle him though and just made up some excuse as to why I had felt nervous.

"You'll get no sympathy from me," Dylan said. "I'm on the ice field. I've got no pokemon that gain an advantage from being on ice."

"Neither did I," David reminded him.

"Oh yeah, you've been on the ice field. Any thoughts on that?"

It took David about half a block to gather up his thoughts. "In theory, trainers would be bringing ice-type pokemon into battle. They'd feel the most at home. I didn't have any so I made plans to counter them. I brought in Duke, Sumo and Zippo. Between those three, I had a pretty fair coverage of types."

"Fighting, normal and fire," Dylan mused.

"Fire/ghost," David corrected.

"Who would you take with you?" Dylan asked both of us.

"Of your pokemon?" I clarified. "I guess if you're following David's tactic, Croagunk would be first and foremost. After that… well, you kind of have an ice issue. I guess Typhlosion and Feraligatr?"

I looked to David. He nodded and added, "Excadrill wouldn't be a bad option. I don't know how well ground-type moves would work on a ice field though. Electivire might be a good choice too, especially if you taught it a fighting-type move."

Dylan arched an eyebrow. "Between now and my match?"

"Hey, you asked for advice," David said with a shrug.

"Who are you using tomorrow?" I asked David, curious of what I might have had to face.

"Not one-hundred percent certain yet, but I'm thinking Lenny, Al, and either Shinigami or Maverick."

I nodded at this. A torterra, crobat and either a scyther or rufflet. Either of the lineups I was considering would've matched up well against those teams. It wouldn't have been a guaranteed win but I would've felt good about my chances.

"If we ever do end up facing each other, I'm not telling you my team." It was like he had been reading my mind.


	54. Chapter 54

Despite my confidence the night before, I spent most of the next morning mulling over my team choice. It wasn't that I didn't have any good choices to do battle on the grass field but more that I had too many options to choose from.

There were the obvious choices of grass-types to go on a grass field, being Sceptile and Abomasnow. Then there was the other type that excelled on the grassy fields: bug. I had a couple of those too. There was also Steelix and Fraxure to consider, all of whom were neutral on grass fields. Then there were those pokemon that held advantages over the commonly used pokemon for these types of field. Staraptor and its flying-type was hard to turn down and could Charizard really ever be a bad choice? Gengar had a poisonous second type which held an advantage over grass pokemon that could be useful. The only pokemon I could for sure rule out were my water, ground and electric pokemon.

Dylan and David didn't seem to be struggling as much with their decisions as I was. Or maybe they were just internalizing it better. I knew they had to be nervous because there was just no way that they weren't. David hiding his emotions was not a surprise; the guy could be as emotional as a wall sometimes. Dylan was just able to project a cool exterior, often going overboard to demonstrate how relaxed about things he was. I had no issue showing that I was nervous. Everyone knew it, so why hide it?

The weather was cooler this Sunday morning than it had been the previous few days. I donned a light jacket when I left the hotel although I still opted for my trusty khaki cargo shorts. I'd worn them in my first two matches (and washed them after) so now they were possibly borderline lucky, if you believed in those kinds of things. Dylan said that he made his own luck. I responded that I did too but preferred to cover all my bases.

Dylan's match started at eleven-thirty so we arrived at the arenas by ten-thirty. He immediately left us for the ice field. Although we would've liked to watch, the regulations that demanded we get to our matches early wouldn't allow for it. David and I were both battling at noon and had to be ready in our locker rooms by eleven. There was a chance we'd get to catch some of it on the televisions that were provided inside but by that point we'd probably be deep into our match preparation.

Although I did sit near the television in the locker room lounge, I hardly noticed it. Since I had to register my pokemon before entering the lockers, I now had to finally focus on my strategy since my team was now final. I felt like I had really covered my bases with this team and would be able to match up well against most pokemon.

I nodded to the guy who had just come off the field. He rolled his eyes like I wasn't worth his time and left the room. When I was fuming about what an asshole he was, I realized I knew who he was. He was the trainer David had pointed out to me as the one who only used a machamp. He actually was as big of an ass as we had thought.

The big digital clock on the wall flashed to my name and I hustled out to the field. I received a nice ovation when I emerged from the tunnel. The urge to play to the crowd was tempting but I forced myself to stay focused. I had read up on my opponent last night. Just looking at his picture, I had known that we would not have been friends in high school if he had attended at the same time as me instead of six years previous. I had been an average, blend in with the crowd kind of guy. This guy, Zak, had a Mohawk seven inches high that wouldn't allow him to blend in anywhere. He was a Punk with a capital P. The way his profile read was that both he and his pokemon were supposedly incredibly aggressive. I was curious to see how that would work against me, someone who was also fairly aggressive.

When Zak came out, he looked exactly like I expected. Whereas I had nice khaki shorts, he had long, ratty cut-off black jean shorts. My t-shirt was plain and unmemorable. His had some giant logo that drew attention to him. The Mohawk of black hair was spiked just like in his picture. We were practically mirror opposites of each other. He probably was a nice guy but I still thought he looked like a dope.

Up on the big display screen, the colored wheel spun and landed on red to declare that I would send out the first pokemon.

I made a split-second decision and grabbed a poke ball. "Staraptor, I choose you!"

Staraptor's and my relationship had evolved these past few months, the events at the Pokemon Sanctuary presumably being the catalyst. We had come to the understanding that we would never be best friends, never as close as I was with Charizard and Sceptile. What we had developed was more of a working relationship. Staraptor got to stay primarily at Oak's campus where it was allowed to live and train at its own pace. In return, the pokemon would assist me in battle whenever I called upon it. I had offered to free the pokemon again but it had turned me down. It had puzzled me at first but I had finally determined that Staraptor felt indebted to me for risking my life to defend the Sanctuary. It wasn't the perfect relationship but it worked for us.

Zak eyed my pokemon circling in the sky for a moment before picking his own pokemon. "Venomoth, go!"

There's no real way to sugarcoat it: venomoth are ugly. Huge creepy eyes, six little creepy legs and big wings, all of it a weird light purple/gray color. It darted around in an unpredictable way that I didn't particularly care for. It was essentially the antithesis of my butterfree. I wished I had a porch light to turn on to draw it in and keep in one location.

Being that I was the first trainer to send out a pokemon, the battle couldn't start until I issued the first command so I got things started. "Staraptor, use quick attack!"

"Ok, we got this!" Zak declared. "Sludge bomb!"

Venomoth unleashed a barrage of nasty globs of gunk. Staraptor had already began to pick up speed and swung around them. Leaving a streak behind it, my pokemon blew right through the bug pokemon. Venomoth dropped a few feet in the air but maintained its flight.

"Another quick attack!"

"Ok, we got this!" Zak said again.

I was really hoping this wasn't going to be something he said every time.

"Quiver dance!"

Venomoth began swirling in the air in an intricate dance but vibrating intensely at the same time. It finished its dance with a flash of light. It was just in time to swoop out of the way of Staraptor. That was not what I wanted to see.

"Aerial ace!"

"Counter with zen head butt!"

Staraptor maneuvered in a tight turn and came back around at Venomoth, white energy streaming off its beak and body. As it closed the gap, the three prongs atop Venomoth's head glowed blue and I could see the air in front of it distort. Staraptor suddenly slammed into a wall of resistance. It tried to force its way forward but was eventually thrown back.

"Yeah, we got this!" Zak cheered drawing a groan from me. "Sludge bomb!"

The barrage of sludge bombs was much larger this time around having been enhanced by the quiver dance. Staraptor was barely able to avoid them.

"Quick attack!" I shouted. "Get out of there!"

Staraptor took off like a shot. With quiver dance boosted speed, Venomoth followed right behind it. The bug pokemon was losing ground but not fast enough for my taste. A sludge bomb clipped Staraptor and the flying-type pokemon slowed slightly allowing Venomoth to get closer.

I had one of those weird flashbacks that seemed to come out of nowhere that are kind of relevant but not really. "We'll hit the breaks and he'll fly right by," I quoted quietly to myself. "Slow it up Staraptor!"

The pokemon spared me a glance that clearly indicated it was wondering if I knew what I was doing. It was enough of a distraction to cause the pokemon to slow just enough.

"Now!" I shouted as I pulled an imaginary brake lever. "Aerial ace!"

Staraptor snapped up into the air and back around in a tight circle that brought it right down into Venomoth. Being boosted by quick attack, there was no chance for the bug pokemon to try and counter. Staraptor drove Venomoth into the ground.

I raised a fist. "Close combat!"

Using the tips of its wings, Staraptor began to pound Venomoth into the ground. I knew the move had greatly diminished effectiveness due to typing but it was still a strong enough move to do some damage.

"Bug buzz!"

Venomoth's wings became a blur and a red sound wave slammed into Staraptor. A second and third hit, completely clearing my pokemon away. The extra power Venomoth's special attacks had picked up from the quiver dance was starting to become an issue. A fourth sound wave managed to tag my pokemon before it got completely out of range.

I looked up at my pokemon as it righted itself in the air. It was clear that it was hurting. Purple sparks crackled around Staraptor and I realized for the first time that one of those sludge bombs that had hit it must've poisoned my pokemon. No wonder it was looking so winded. Venomoth wasn't looking much better even without being poisoned. The super-effective aerial ace it had taken had done a lot of damage.

"You ready?" I called up to the pokemon. I got a caw and a nod in return.

"Yeah, we got this!" Zak announced. "Quiver dance again and then bug buzz!"

Venomoth was already dancing away before I could even think to counter it. Instead, I'd attack. "Brave bird!"

Staraptor pulled its wings in and dove at Venomoth. The pokemon erupted into flames that blew away as it extended its wings back out, its whole body now engulfed in a shimmering blue aura. Venomoth had finished its dance and was now beating its wings. The first red sound wave slammed into Staraptor, barely slowing it. Venomoth's eyes got huge and it beat its wings even faster. Sound wave after sound wave slammed into Staraptor but the flying-type pokemon slashed through them all, absorbing their damage before smashing into Venomoth. The two pokemon disappeared in the resulting explosion. It took just a heartbeat for the two pokemon to fall from the fireball.

"Venomoth and Staraptor are both unable to battle!" the ref declared. "This round is a tie!"

"That didn't go quite according to plan," I muttered as I recalled my pokemon.

This time it fell to Zak to send out the first pokemon. I was pleased with how good I was getting at identifying pokemon now as I recognized the big, four-legged body and leaf-like wings. I hadn't seen a tropius in quite some time but it was a pretty distinct pokemon.

And best of all, I had the perfect counter. "Abomasnow, go!"

My little snover was now a hulking beast. A big, bulky white body with patches of bushy fur complemented by long arms that were tipped in green just like its legs. There was a stubby green tail and a quartet of little green spikes on its back. Best of all, it still had its same ability. Dark clouds formed above us and a fog rolled over the battlefield. The temperature drop made my sweaty shirt uncomfortably cold.

"Get in the air!" Zak yelled, finally forgetting his catchphrase. "Use double team!"

Suddenly there were multiple flickering copies of Tropius flying around the battlefield. Tropius' wings snapped sharply and discs of wind energy shot out at my pokemon.

"Air slash, eh?" I said to myself. "Blizzard!"

Abomasnow crossed its arms over its chest as it took in a huge breath. Upon exhale, a huge blast of icy wind rushed across the field. The wind carried small chunks of snow and ice with it that consumed the air slashes. The blizzard swept across the field, destroying Tropius copies until it finally slammed into the real thing and brought the pokemon back down to Earth. When the flying-type pokemon rose back up to its full height there were ice crystals forming on its wings.

"Quick Abomasnow!" I shouted. "Energy ball!"

"Leaf storm!"

Tropius' wings glowed a bright green and a huge vortex of glowing leaves erupted from them. They pounded into the energy ball, stopping it in its tracks. The smaller grass-type attack detonated and the leaves continued on to pound into Abomasnow.

"Return, Tropius!" Zak called. "Toxicroak, you're up!"

Now this was more like the pokemon I had expected Zak to have: big and nasty looking.

"Toxicroak, use poison jab!"

"Block it with wood hammer!"

Toxicroak raced in, arm pulled back and its red claw now growing purple. Abomasnow's dark green arm was now glowing a bright green as it swung forward. The two attacks slammed together to force a standstill. Both pokemon pulled up their free hand and executed their attacks again. Now they were locked together, neither of them able to let up.

"Headbutt!" I shouted.

Abomasnow pulled back and slammed its face into Toxicroak's. The poisonous pokemon staggered back and Abomasnow had a free shot. It buried its wood hammer into Toxicroak's stomach and hurled the pokemon back. Green sparks were playing over my pokemon as I drew it back into its poke ball.

"I've been waiting for a moment like this," I said aloud and it was true. I had been looking forward to a match-up like this since I had first entered the Tournament. "Go!"

"Heracross!" The bug pokemon formed out of energy in the air and dropped to the ground in a dramatic fashion. The allure of pitting two powerful fighting-type pokemon against one another was too much to pass up. Toxicroak gave a small, barely perceptible shudder as it looked my pokemon up and down, appraising the challenge. The snowstorm that Abomasnow had brought with it slowly faded away, taking its damaging hail with it.

"Toxicroak, use bulk up!"

The poisonous pokemon crossed its arms over its abdomen and the muscles on them bulged out to enormous proportions. They sank back to normal but the message was clear: the attack power of Toxicroak had just gone way up.

"Now use brick break!"

"Dodge it, Heracross!"

Toxicroak launched at Heracross, both forearms flashing white. Heracross shuffled to the side to avoid the first strike and then with a flurry of its wings, drew back from the second. Toxicroak kept coming and Heracross kept bobbing and weaving.

"Close combat!"

Heracross swung to its left to let Toxicroak's fist go by and then grabbed onto it with both its claws. With a grunt, the bug pokemon pivoted and hurled the poison pokemon over its shoulder. Toxicroak hit on its back but to its credit, it rolled through the fall and back up to its feet. Heracross was already in midair by that point. It spun and drove one foot into Toxicroak's chest and then continue to the spin to plant the other in the same spot. This time the toxicroak went down. Heracross leapt into the air and attempted to drive a fist down into Toxicroak's face but it was blocked by a brick break. Like some kind of break-dancer, Heracross spun on multiple axis and drove a kick into the side of Toxicroak's head. My pokemon grabbed Toxicroak's foot before the pokemon could bounce away and swung it around, tossing it across the ring. Then Heracross bent its knees, drawing lower to the ground, stuck one arm out straight and bent the other up over its head.

I groaned and face-palmed. Apparently I should've listened to Professor Oak about not letting Heracross watch old kung-fu movies. How was I supposed to know? At any rate, the crowd was absolutely eating it up.

"Toxicroak, venoshock!"

Toxicroak rolled back onto its shoulders and neck before launched back forward and up to its feet. When it was back up, I saw the pouch at its neck pulse before it spat a stream of gooey green liquid all over Heracross. Heracross staggered back as the liquid sunk in, the move not having much effect. Purple sparks flickered over my pokemon and it hunched over in pain.

"It's poisoned!" Zak cried out in glee. "Venoshock again!"

This time the green goo knocked Heracross right off its feet. I was flabbergasted. The same attack had just seemingly doubled in power despite nothing happening.

"Confused?" Zak taunted. "Venoshock doubles in power when it's used on a target that's already poisoned! How about them apples?"

"I got a surprise of my own," I shot back.

Heracross jumped back up to its feet. "Hera-CROSS!" Red waves of energy began flowing off the pokemon. A red glow filled Heracross' eyes and then vanished as the last wave of energy shattered.

"Know what ability Heracross has?" I asked, failing to fight off a smirk. "That's right: Guts."

Zak didn't have a response for the fact that he had inadvertently raised my pokemon's attack power.

"Toxicroak, venoshock!"

"Not this time!" I pointed at the opposing pokemon. "Stone edge!"

White specks swirled around Heracross before forming into pointed stones. Heracross threw its arms forward and the stones shot towards Toxicroak. It took three stones to soak up the venoshock and the rest slammed into the poison pokemon. More stones were needed than I would've thought to knock down Toxicroak.

"Toxicroak, return!" Zak had apparently decided that his pokemon had had enough for now. "Tropius, air slash!"

"Heracross, mega horn!"

Wings buzzed to life as a white energy washed down Heracross' horn. The bug pokemon shot into the air as the glow on its horn intensified. The blade of air shattered when it came into contact with Heracross and the pokemon kept going. Shocked by the ineffectiveness of its attack, Tropius didn't even try to avoid Heracross. Heracross plowed into Tropius and forced it into a direction change to drive it into the ground.

"Heracross, return!" I shouted, as purple sparks continued to play over the pokemon. I hated to ruin my momentum but the poison was really starting to affect Heracross. "Abomasnow, blizzard!"

A well-aimed air slash zipped through the blizzard and smashed into Abomasnow's chest. My pokemon staggered back. Its blizzard went awry but the snowstorm that it had brought with it onto the field tagged Tropius with its hail.

"Tropius, body slam!"

Two flaps of its wings took the flying grass-pokemon into the air. It got a dozen or so feet above Abomasnow before tucking its wings away. Tropius landed with its full weight on my pokemon, squishing it to the ground.

"Wood hammer!"

Dark green turned to bright green and Abomasnow drove its forearm into Tropius, separating the two pokemon. With surprising speed Abomasnow was back on its feet and delivered another wood hammer to Tropius. Green sparks played across my pokemon as the recoil damage caught up with it. Luckily, the two attacks had done more than enough damage to Tropius to keep things even, or more likely, tipped in my favor. The two pokemon stared each other down, both breathing heavily. Hail shattered against Tropius, knocking it slightly off-balance. I started reaching for my poke balls, since the switch was inevitable.

"Use air slash!"

My eyes had drifted from the field but they snapped back now. The first two slashes slammed into Abomasnow's chest, the third missing as the pokemon twisted away. I couldn't believe it. No trainer in their right mind would have left their pokemon on the field. I fumed at myself for underestimating just how aggressive this trainer was.

"You ok Abomasnow?" I called to the pokemon. It huffed a reply as it steadied itself on its feet. "Ok, let's finish this-"

Zak cut me off. "Tropius, use leaf storm!"

"Sonofa- blizzard!"

The two storms slammed together. Snow, ice and leaves were blown everywhere.

"Energy ball!" I shouted. "Lob it over the storms!"

Abomasnow held a distinct advantage over Tropius: its hands were free. Tropius needed its wings to create its leaf storm which prevented it from using any other attacks. Abomasnow, however, had a free hand to form the energy ball and then toss it over the two stalled attacks. It wasn't a good toss. It didn't even hit Tropius but it was close enough to knock the pokemon off-balance just enough for its concentration to waiver. The blizzard overtook the leaf storm and swept over Tropius. Tropius was quickly encased in a thick block of ice.

"Tropius is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Abomasnow is the winner!"

"Good job Abomasnow," I said as I recalled the pokemon. There was no doubt in my mind that the pokemon could still battle but I wanted to hopefully call it a day for Abomasnow. Technically this was its first appearance as an abomasnow and only its second official battle. I wanted to make sure it left with a good taste in its mouth.

"Toxicroak, bulk up!" Zak yelled.

Toxicroak flexed its already considerable muscles and charged at Heracross, poisonous claws extended. Heracross made to dodge but a wave of poison washed over it causing the pokemon to cringe and slow. Toxicroak drove a poison jab so hard into Heracross' midsection that I half expected it to burst out my pokemon's back. It struck with the other claw, sending my pokemon skipping across the field.

"After it Toxicroak!" Zak was apparently sensing blood now. "Brick break and poison jab!"

"Heracross, close combat!"

Heracross had spun back up to its feet by the time Toxicroak arrived, one arm flashing with light and the other baring the poisonous talon. The bug pokemon ducked under the first strike and delivered a one-two combo to Toxicroak's midsection before dancing away from a poison jab. Jumping into the air, Heracross spun and drove a stiff kick into Toxicroak's chest. A brick break nearly knocked Heracross off its feet but it countered with a spinning backfist that staggered the big poison pokemon. Toxicroak stumbled back, turning itself around briefly before coming back to face Heracross. Heracross lunged forward, ducking its horn under Toxicroak's arm and then the bug pokemon threw its arm across the chest of Toxicroak and latching it over the other pokemon's shoulder.

"Oh no," I said, knowing what was coming and hiding my eyes.

Using its immense strength, Heracross hefted Toxicroak into the air and falling forward, slammed the pokemon into the ground on its back. The bug pokemon spun around and back to its feet to stand over Toxicroak's head.

"No!" I yelled and pointed at my pokemon. "No! If you use the People's Elbow, I will lock you in your poke ball for a month!"

In addition to watching kung-fu movies, I had forgotten that I had stumbled across Heracross watching professional wrestling. It had apparently watched a match with The Rock because it had just delivered a Rock Bottom to its opponent. I was either going to have to not let the pokemon watch television or at least make it watch mixed martial arts or something.

Still on the ground, Toxicroak's throat pouch began to swell.

"Get out of there!" I commanded my pokemon. "In the air!"

Heracross sprouted wings and shot into the air. A spurt of green goo followed it up but the pokemon outraced the venoshock attack. Toxicroak lurched back up to its feet but it was too slow to strike at my pokemon.

"Let's finish this!" There was still one attack that I had kept under wraps until just now. "Aerial ace!"

White energy poured off Heracross' horn as it rocketed back down. Toxicroak pulled back an arm to counterattack but Heracross kicked it into another gear. Heracross plowed right through Toxicroak, dropping the poison pokemon like a rock. Boosted by Heracross' Guts ability, aerial ace was all I needed.

"Toxicroak is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Victory to Heracross and the red trainer!"

"Hell yeah!" I fist-pumped and walked over to Heracross. "We need to work on your TV choices. Definitely no more wrestling."

The pokemon just laughed. I shook my head and put it back in its ball.

Once I had gone back through the locker room and gotten back outside, I fired off a text message to Dylan. He should've been done quite a while ago and would have hopefully figured out where the best matches to watch were going to be. I didn't get an immediate response so I found an unoccupied bench and relaxed for a few minutes.

Someone made a snorting noise as they walked by. I looked up to see the guy I only knew as the one who used the machamp. He was rolling his eyes at me.

"You got a problem?" I asked. I leaned back on the bench and extended my arms out along the back. Hopefully I looked cool and relaxed.

"You're terrible," the guy said, stopping. "You barely won."

"That's debatable. I still had two pokemon left."

"If you were any good, you'd have all your pokemon left at the end." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Like me."

I lowered my head in a mock bow. "Clearly you are the superior trainer. Oh please, O Great One, teach me more!"

He made a rude hand gesture and walked away. I waited until he was well away before I let out a sigh. That guy was way bigger than me. If he had actually wanted to fight, I had no doubt I would've been destroyed.

My phone buzzed and I saw the text from Dylan: _Grass field 3. David in trouble._

I jumped off the bench. I was outside of Field One and would need to hustle if David really was in trouble. Taking off at a run, I managed to maneuver my way through the crowds. I had misread my map though. Instead of arriving at Grass Field Three, I ended up at Grass Field Two. After dropping a few choice four-lettered words I took off running. I was worried that the battle would be over by the time I got there but there were still pokemon on the field, including one that I recognized as David's torterra.

"What'd I miss?" I asked as I dropped into the seat Dylan had saved for me. "It doesn't look like he's in trouble."

"You missed the good stuff," Dylan replied and nodded towards the field. "Lenny is all David has left. His rufflet and scyther got manhandled."

"So is it three-on-one?"

David's opponent looked remarkably similar to him. Both had close-cropped black hair, a scruffy beard and piercing blue eyes. From a distance they looked like they could be twins with the most obvious difference being that John, David's opponent, had a large sleeve of tattoos running up his left arm.

"It's two-on-one," Dylan corrected. "They managed to take down John's probopass before they went down. Now he's switching between a flareon and whatever the hell that thing is down there. I've never seen anything like it."

I squinted and tried to figure out what exactly I was looking at. It had a basic humanoid configuration but that was where the comparison to a human ended. A round yellow head had almost like a bonnet of leaves backing it and sheltering its big red eyes. The upper body was very slight with two arms that came out of it which appeared to actually be made out of leaves. If you looked further down the body of the pokemon a yellow thorax stuck out behind it, sheltered by leaves. Two pointed legs let it move with surprising quickness.

"Although now that I think of it… do you remember that thing at the tournament for the Fivers?" Dylan was leaning forward to look at the pokemon. "Remember that thing called like sewaddle or something like that? Kind of reminds me of that a little bit."

I had to think about it for a moment but I had to agree. "What was that thing? A bug pokemon?"

"I think it was actually a dual type bug/grass."

"Oh damn, I can see why that's causing issues." I looked closer. Lenny the torterra was looking a little tired. "Has Lenny been alone against these two or did David's other pokemon do some damage first?"

On the field, the weird pokemon we couldn't identify was dodging a barrage of seed bombs.

"Whatever he named his scyther, Shini-something, tangled with that grass/bug thing but got smacked pretty hard by the flareon. Have you seen a flame charge before? It's like a weak version of a flare blitz without the recoil but it ups the pokemon's speed. The guy's been using that to great effect."

Once his pokemon had successfully avoided the seed bombs, John shouted, "Leavanny, X-scissor!"

At least we had a name now. Leavanny crossed it glowing arms over its body and flew at Lenny. David was ready for it though. Using an earthquake to disrupt Leavanny's progress, Lenny grabbed an arm using crunch and tossed the smaller pokemon away.

"Lenny, use leaf storm!"

The storm of leaves pounded into the flying, flailing pokemon. It was right then that I began to realize why David was having such a tough time now. The only attack his torterra had that didn't hit for reduced damage against the leavanny was crunch. John was probably planning to use his leavanny to wear down Lenny as much as possible since his flareon would be weak to the earthquake Lenny could summon.

"Get up Leavanny!" John shouted. "Use X-scissor!"

"Earthquake!"

Lenny rose up on its back legs to slam down its front legs. Leavanny had been trying to charge but the trembling ground made it tough going. The pokemon stumbled more than a few times.

"Leaf storm!" David yelled.

Leavanny thrust out its X-scissor to try and combat the hail of leaves. With already unstable footing, the pokemon was slowing being forced backwards. The X-scissor was doing an admirable job of deflecting the leaf storm, with only a few stray leaves passing by to do damage.

"Now's our shot!" David announced as he pointed to the sky. "Seed bomb!"

The tree on the back of his torterra, already glowing green, flashed. Eight small glowing orbs launched from the tree, arcing over the leaf storm. Leavanny looked up and shouted in alarm. It got caught trying to decide which attack was going to be more deadly and didn't block either. The seed bombs exploded against the grass/bug pokemon and then the leaf storm overtook it. Leavanny came flying out of the explosion though. It slashed a shadow claw across Lenny before being caught in a crunch and slammed to the ground.

"Leavanny is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Lenny is the winner!"

"One more to go," I muttered.

Flareon quickly demonstrated its flame charge for us. It would stomp its feet until a cloud of dust enveloped it before shooting out, coated in fire. David had gotten wise after seeing it a few times apparently. While Flareon was stomping the ground, Lenny was firing seed bombs into the air. The bombs were timed nicely and started impacting the ground right as the fire pokemon was advancing. It avoided the first few but the flame charge didn't seem to help much with maneuverability. Four or five direct hits were enough to grind the fire attack to a halt.

"Earthquake!" David shouted.

Still recovering from the seed bombs, Flareon didn't have a chance to do anything about the earthquake. It had to absorb the full force of the attack. David seemed to decide that his best chance of defeating this fire-type was to string attacks together and give it no chance to recover. He ordered his torterra to fire another round of seed bombs and then ready for a leaf storm.

"Flareon, use hyper voice!"

Sucking in wind, Flareon looked to the sky. A blast of white wind enveloped turquoise rings as the pokemon let out a loud shout. As the rings slammed into the falling seed bombs, both exploded. One attack taken care of, Flareon whirled around and unleashed a flamethrower at the oncoming leaf storm. The flames pushed back the whirling leaves.

A tremor shook the ground. Not a strong one but still recognizable as an earthquake. Flareon staggered slightly to one side. Lenny burst through the fire, a fearsome sight as trails of flames traced its outline in the sky. The huge grass-type landed above Flareon and its huge bulk shielded the smaller pokemon from view. Now the ground shook violently from Lenny's impact. I caught a glimpse of a red limb or tail occasionally as the fire pokemon was bounced around on the ground.

"Crunch!" David yelled.

Moving quickly for a pokemon of its girth, Lenny pivoted around to reveal a dazed Flareon. With glowing white jaws the grass pokemon snapped up the flareon by its tail and hurled it across the field. Lenny then unleashed another leaf storm to batter the tossed pokemon. From the way its massive legs were quivering, I was pretty sure the torterra was going to pass out from exhaustion soon if it didn't win the match shortly.

"Another earthquake!"

Lenny rose up on its back legs and roared. "Tor-terra!"

The earthquake was timed well. The shockwave that ripped through the ground hit Flareon just after it finished being battered by the leaf storm. There was no chance for it to recover and ready any kind of defense.

"Flareon is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Victory to Lenny and the red trainer!"

"Man, that was close!" I said as I felt relief for my friend. As if to emphasize my point, Lenny slumped down to the ground. It barely had enough energy to raise its head up when David walked over to it to give it a thankful pat on the head and say a few words.

"That's three down, one to go," Dylan said, referencing the amount of fields we had to battle on. "Tomorrow's the big day."

It occurred to me then that I hadn't ever even asked Dylan if he had won his match. His statement made it clear that he had but I asked anyway just to be polite. As we made our way out of the stadium, he elaborated on his victory. Like David and myself, he had been taken to his limits before claiming victory.

We waited a surprisingly long time for David. When he finally emerged from the locker rooms, his black hair was wet.

"I was, uh, really sweaty," he explained. "I figured I should probably clean up a little."

As we walked off, I tried to covertly sniff myself. I didn't seem to be too ripe. I was probably presentable in public for the time being.

"Hey, who the hell is that guy?" Dylan asked later when we were sitting in a café not far outside the arena. He indicted someone over my shoulder with a nod. "He's been giving you the evil eye since we got here."

There was no way to be smooth about it so I just turned completely in my seat. At first I didn't see anyone. Then I saw him. I knew he was despite still not actually knowing his name. It was the trainer with the machamp that I'd had a verbal exchange with earlier. He gave me the finger and left.

"What was that all about?" David asked. "Wasn't that the machamp trainer?"

"Yes and I don't know," I replied. I told them about our earlier exchange. "He's just kind of an asshole."

"Or maybe he knows something you don't," Dylan said and pointed up.

Like almost every restaurant around the area, there was at least one television mounted to the wall. It was currently tuned in to, what else, Pokemon League coverage. The anchorman was updating the audience on what match-ups had already been determined for the next day. I didn't understand why Dylan had pointed this out at first. Then I saw my picture and next to it was the machamp trainer's picture. We were going to be doing battle tomorrow on the second ice field. I felt a tremble of anticipation run through me. I had the chance to do what every other trainer here probably wanted to do: shut this guy up.

During the meal, I was less than conversational. I spent the majority of the time with my pokedex out and trying to form a plan. I was determined to come up with a flawless plan to really take this guy, Jordan his name was, down a notch. Running through all my pokemon and all their potential attacks took me the entire dinner but I finally gathered my ideas into what I thought was the perfect plan.

"Hey, I need your help," I said to Dylan as we were standing to leave. And then to David, "Yours too."

Dylan looked puzzled but David knew exactly what I had in mind. "You're planning to take him down a notch."

I simply nodded. I started to lead the way but I turned back to Dylan. "Bring Gigalith."

"Gigalith?" my friends repeated in unison. Clearly they didn't understand how a rock-type pokemon was the key to my plan to defeat a powerful fighting-type.

"Trust me. It'll all make sense."

It took some time for us to find an isolated location where I could explain my plan and start training the necessary pokemon. Their jaws dropped when I unveiled the pokemon we'd be working with but once I explained my plan in full, they were onboard albeit with some reservations.

Evening turning into night and night into twilight. Once I had gotten what I needed from David and Dylan they stuck around until around midnight but left to devise their own strategies for their own matches. I stayed in my training area until almost four in the morning until I was certain everything was perfect. My match wasn't until six in the evening so I was still able to get a good amount of sleep.

I had been placed in one of the prime-time match time slots I had come to realize. It was Monday and most people had to work but the tournament had to keep going. People wanted to see the overpowering machamp against the scrappy underdog. I wasn't sure if I really qualified for the "scrappy underdog" label but I was willing to run with it.

The hours just seemed to run together and the next thing I knew, I was standing in my trainer's box on the ice field and watching the colored wheel up on the screen determine who sent out the first pokemon. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Jordan not watching the wheel at all. He was still staring at me in what I assumed was his attempt at mind games. I ignored him. The wheel landed on red. Red was me.

I took a second to look over the field again. The ice gleamed in the sun. Small pillars of ice seemed to grow out of the ground, almost like reverse icicles. None of it mattered though. My plan was already decided.

I took a deep breath and cranked back my arm to throw the poke ball. "Jigglypuff, I choose you!"

There was a rumbling in the crowd. I had just sent a small, normal-type pokemon out onto the field against someone who was known to specialize in fighting-types.

"Are you kidding me?" Jordan exclaimed. He was laughing a high-pitched hysterical laugh. "Do you know what you've done?! Do you study at all? Machamp, destroy this thing!"

He was every bit as predictable as I'd hoped. Clearly not once did he consider that I wanted this or had prepared for this.

"Jigglypuff, use stealth rock!"

Jigglypuff became outline in a white, sparkling energy that exploded off of its body like dozens of tiny rockets. They each disappeared as the hit the ground. At first nothing seemed to happen but shortly after large, pointed rocks began to fade in and out of existence just waiting for a new pokemon to be switch in. I silently thanked Dylan and his gigalith for helping Jigglypuff learn the attack.

"Oh no!" Jordan cried, feigning horror. "Now I'll be hesitant to switch pokemon. Whatever shall I do?"

"Jigglypuff, use sing!"

The pokemon swayed back and forth as it sang sweetly. The melody was slow and pleasant but because it was being focused on Machamp, it didn't bother me at all. There were actually faint outlines of musical notes swirling through the air and absorbing into the big, four-armed fighting pokemon. Jigglypuff hadn't gotten through more than a few bars when Machamp slumped down to its knees. All four arms were folded nicely in its lap. The big crested held lolled to one side.

Jordan through his hands up in mock distress. "Oh no! Now my pokemon's asleep! It might not wake up before your jigglypuff is exhausted from attacking!"

Right about then my determined look melted into a sadistic smile. Jordan's laughter faltered.

"Dream eater!"

"Wait, what?"

A shadowy image of Jigglypuff shot out across the field. It slid right through Machamp but the pokemon snapped back like it had been hit with an enormous force. In its sleep condition it wavered in the air before slouching down to one side. If David and I had estimated Jigglypuff's strength correctly, each super-effective dream eater should be taking away at least a quarter if not almost a third of Machamp's health away.

"Again!" I roared.

Now Jordan was yelling at his pokemon to snap out of it. The shadowy Jigglypuff ran right through the machamp, spinning it around on the ground. I was pretty sure Jordan could see the predicament I'd put him in now. Any pokemon he could switch to would immediately take damage from stealth rock. If he left his Machamp in much longer, it would suffer the indignity of losing to a jigglypuff. The paralyzing indecision was exactly what I'd hoped for.

"Dream eater again!"

This time the phantom Jigglypuff arced out wide to come in at Machamp's side. It dipped low and then came up, lifting the fighting-type off the ground with its impact. Machamp wasn't defeated yet though. It still snoozed peacefully, apparently unaware of the psychic beating it was taking.

"Finish it!" I yelled. "Dream eater!"

The image of Jigglypuff shot across the field.

Machamp's eyes snapped open. The Jigglypuff image faded from existence.

"Yes!" Jordan screamed. "Now kill that jigglypuff!"

"Hyper voice!"

Machamp was slow to its feet, only know realizing the beating it had taken. It was up to one knee when the column of wind and turquoise rings slammed into it. Machamp staggered backwards and was completely unable to get to a steady position with the battering of sound waves.

Here was where Jigglypuff's lack of battling might come back to bite me. "Sing and hyper voice together!"

The loud noise that Jigglypuff was using for its attack jumped rapidly in pitch. I shied away as it became painful to my ears. The turquoise rings changed though. Instead of solid rings, if you looked closely, they were rings of small musical notes. Machamp fought back but was eventually claimed by slumber once more.

"No!" Jordan was raising his poke ball now.

Jigglypuff was faster.

Dream eater slammed into Machamp before its sleeping form could fall. Its body looked like it had been hit by a truck as it flew backwards.

Even the ref was stunned. It took him an extra beat to announce, "Machamp is unable to battle. Jigglypuff… is the winner!"

The crowd loved it.

I crossed my arms over my chest and fixed Jordan with the same evil glare he had been giving me since yesterday.

"Puff!" On the field, Jigglypuff mimicked my stance. I liked to think I was the more intimidating of the two of us.

Jordan was shell-shocked now. It wasn't a rule that you had to announce the pokemon you were entering into battle but it was considered good form. He said nothing as he threw his poke ball onto the field. I barely got a look at his pokemon before three rocks materialized out of thin air and smashed against the pokemon, creating a shower of rubble. White claws attached to blackish-blue arms dug out of the pile of rubble. I didn't even need to see the feather-like appendages on the back of the pokemon's head to know that it was a sneasel.

I smiled. David had been right. The previous night he had accurately predicted that Jordan's second pokemon, which no one had ever seen, would be something that could combat a fighting-types two main weaknesses of psychic and flying. Sneasel's dark- and ice-types took cover both of those. However, while it was immune to Jigglypuff's primary attack of dream eater, it was weak to the stealth rocks it had laid down.

"Well done Jigglypuff!" I boomed. "Return! Go, Charizard!"

Like I was going to go through this entire first round without using Charizard.

"Let's make this quick Charizard," I called, confidence now flowing through me. "I've got places to be! Focus blast!"

Charizard pulled a three-clawed arm back as the light blue orb formed at the tip of its claws. Sneasel started gathering energy for an ice but it was clearly an underutilized pokemon. The response to Jordan's command was lagging. Charizard hurled the focus blast. It moved strangely through the air, almost like a knuckleball but it still slammed into Sneasel and the pokemon was lost in the detonation.

"Flamethrower!"

My pokemon poured fire into the waning explosion. It was pretty academic. Jordan had relied so heavily on his machamp for so long that he had neglected his other pokemon to a criminal level. I actually felt a little guilty as Sneasel was laying there, facedown in the ice.

Jordan was beginning to recover his wits, for all the good it was going to do him. "You haven't won yet! Go, Aggron!"

I raised my eyebrows at this. Huge and armored with sharp horns. This was not a pokemon that had been neglected. Aggron had to evolve from a lairon and did so at a fairly high level. Perhaps Jordan wasn't as one-dimensional as I had previous thought. The stealth rocks slammed into the pokemon, reminding me they were there, and Aggron shook off the impact.

Then I remembered I had Charizard on the field and none of that mattered. "Charizard, focus blast!"

Charizard hurled the blue orb. Aggron responded quicker to Jordan's command than Sneasel had but it was still too slow. And just like with Sneasel, focus blast was doubly super-effective.

"Iron head!" Jordan yelled.

"Flamethrower!"

Encapsulated in silvery-white energy, Aggron launched itself at Charizard. However Charizard was no longer where it had been. The fire pokemon was now circling high above the field. A pillar of fire slammed down into Aggron's back, driving the pokemon down into ice. Aggron spun around in the crushed ice to bring its jagged jaws to bare, a flash cannon forming, only to be greeted with another focus blast. The explosion threw light and ice shards into the air.

Less neglected or not, Aggron had nothing on Charizard.

"Aggron is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Victory to Charizard and the red trainer!"

Just like that, I had advanced to the next round.

Across the field Jordan gave me a reluctant nod. Despite myself, I returned it.

As I was heading back to the locker room, I was unsurprisingly stopped by a reporter. She politely asked if she could have a few words with me. I wasn't sure if I was actually allowed to say no even if I had wanted to.

She did the usual preamble and then asked, "That was a pretty big risk using your jigglypuff, why take such a risk?"

I paused for a moment before saying, "My entire professional career has been built on risk, so why stop now?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well… I mean just starting out was a risk. I'd had my pokemon for about a week before my friend Dylan and I made the decision to start challenging Gyms. I've only been at this for a year so even coming to the League Tournament was a risk."

"You seem to be holding up pretty well for someone who's only been at this for a year. What do you attribute that to?"

Now my pause was longer and hopefully not viewed as awkward. I had to judge just how much I could say on this subject. "Let's just say… I got more than my fair share of experience in my travels."

The reporter smiled. "No hints?"

"Tell you what," I said with a laugh. "If I make it to the finals, you can come back and ask me then."

"I'm going to hold you to that. Good luck in the next round." She moved off to the side of the field where she had been sitting before and I headed back through the locker room.

Back outside of the stadium, things seemed different. The sun seemed a little brighter. The air smelled a little cleaner. The grass looked extra green. Nothing had changed but at the same time, everything had changed. Dylan and David had won their matches earlier in the day which meant we had made it to the next round.

The round of sixty-four awaited.


	55. Chapter 55

Preparing for the round of sixty-four was a whole other monster compared to preparing for the elemental fields.

At least with the elemental fields, you could reasonably expect to not see certain pokemon. On the water field, you were probably never going to see fire, rock or ground pokemon. On the ice field, you rarely saw grass-, ground- or rock-types. On the rock and grass fields, electric pokemon rarely made an appearance. But now in the round of sixty-four, all battles were held on a neutral field which allowed all types to operate on an equal level.

In some ways I was glad I only had a day to prepare for my match. If I'd had more time than that, I had no doubt that I would've drastically over thought things. The best thing I could do now was to simply go with my gut. Despite using completely different teams in all of my previous battles, I still had some pokemon that had yet to debut on this grand stage. Almost all of them were already listed under my online trainer profile but that didn't mean they wouldn't still come as a surprise to an unsuspecting trainer. With that in mind, I added Gengar, Sandslash and Fraxure to my team. They were all pokemon I had faith in but just to be on the safe side I rounded out the team with Charizard, Sceptile and Swampert.

Even though I had already decided on my team I still studied up on my opponent. Now that the field had been slimmed down to only sixty-four competitors, the League website had posted even more information about the remaining competitors. Before it was just pictures of the trainers and then stock photos of the pokemon that trainer possessed. Now there were actual photos of the trainers in action, if available. Some profiles even included videos if the trainer had participated in League-sanctioned tournaments. Sitting in the large bed from the comfort of my hotel room, I could actually watch my future opponents battle. My profile had two videos on it: one from the tournament in Anaheim and one from the tournament in Virginia.

The trainer I was to face tomorrow morning also had a video posted on hers. She was a few years older than me, with short spikey blonde hair although the tips had been dyed pink. Keira, from Seattle, also had a number of piercings including five in the ear her photo showed and one in her eyebrow. I could only imagine there were more. Even with all the metal on her head, she was still kind of cute in a weird way.

Her video was of a match she'd had at a tournament in Texas which surprised me since she had entered the tournament before. I hadn't known there was a tournament there and the video didn't give a date. It was a doubles battle so that wasn't super helpful for battling styles but it did give me some interesting insight into her as a trainer. She was using a loudred and a natu. Those were two fairly uncommon pokemon, not rare, but uncommon in battling circles. If nothing else, that told me that Kiera eschewed the traditional powerhouses and used either her favorites or just whatever felt right at the time. It certainly added another dynamic to trying to plan for our battle.

After another two hours of intense studying I had to finally set my laptop aside. Rubbing my tired eyes with one hand, the other fumbled around for the television remote. I found it and thumbed the power button. I needed some kind of distraction for a bit. Too bad I had left the TV on ESPN-P. I sighed and slumped back against the headboard. There was no point in even pretending I wasn't interested.

The show consisted of a panel of "experts" sitting at a desk and debating how the tournament would play out. Behind them on a big screen was the bracket that contained the sixty-four names of the remaining trainers, placed there in a random order after the previous round had finished. They kept flashing it up on my screen and letting me actually look at it for a moment. I found myself and then David. We were on the same side of the bracket but would both have to advance quite far to face one another. It wasn't until they pushed the graphic back onto the screen did I find Dylan. He was on the complete opposite side of the bracket. I certainly wouldn't be facing him this tournament.

Names began to be crossed out as the panel argued about how far each trainer might be advancing. A different expert argued the merits of each trainer passionately as if they had some type of personal stake in this. At first I completely tuned out the words. Then after a commercial break they showed the debaters names underneath them on the screen and I was drawn in. One of the debaters was Jon Dickson, a former Champion. Also during the break, they had rotated the panel and now Gary Oak, Gym Leader and grandson of Professor Oak, was on the panel. Gary had some serious issues with how they had predicted the bracket to play out.

"All I'm saying," Gary was pushing his point, "is that I think some of these younger trainers are being overlooked. There's a lot more talent out there then in previous years despite what some people are saying."

"Just because of the large number of first year trainers that made the Tournament?" Dickson countered. "That number fluctuates every year. It may be back down next year.

Gary shook his head and cut off another expert. "I'm saying that because of the way that some of these trainers got into the round of sixty-four. There were some impressive victories in the elemental round by some rookies over some veterans. I'm not saying that any of these rookies- all what, twelve of them?- are going to win the whole thing. I just think that any veteran trainer who overlooks one of them might find themselves watching the rest of the tournament."

The host paused as something was presumably fed to him through his earpiece. "Ok then, Gary. You've seen all sixteen of these rookies in the last year or so which means you've probably got the best grasp on their skills." The host was clearly building up Gary's credibility but I wasn't sure if that was necessary. "Give us your dark horses for this year's tournament. Doesn't have to be rookies. Just someone you think people aren't given a chance. Who's this year's Cinderella?"

Now it made sense. The network was looking to get people familiar with the underdogs. There's nothing people love more than rooting for the guy or girl that's facing the seemingly invincible favorite to win. The names Gary produced would be marked, both by the public and the remaining trainers. The public would remember them as the trainers that could conceivably be something special. Trainers would remember them as someone to beat to make a name for themselves and someone who would have heavy crowd support during the match.

Gary rattled off three names.

"Oh shit!" I blurted out.

Gary Oak, credible Gym Leader, had just named Dylan, David and me.

"There's something about these trainers," Gary was saying. The station was already cueing up montages from battles the three of us had already had. Those videos took up the screen and Gary talked over them. "Just watch the way they handle their pokemon. No doubt, no hesitation. There's complete and total trust there. All three of them are rookies but they have the composure of seasoned veterans. Just look at how they handled either being down a pokemon or two, or having to face a pokemon they've never seen before. They're going to be names we want to remember in the future. I also wouldn't look pass this Russian trainer-"

But I was no longer listening. I rolled off the bed and made it to the door in three strides. I had to make sure that the others had seen this. David's room was the closest to mine and I pounded on his door. Surprisingly, I heard the scrape of the wooden desk chair. I had only been using mine for storage but David was apparently using his for its intended purpose.

"What's up?" he asked as he opened the door slowly and then all the way when he realized it was me. He held the door open with one hand and leaned against the frame. He looked tired.

"Were you watching ESPN-P just now?" I asked.

He looked back into the room. "Uh, no. I was trying to relax a little before bed. I was… working on something else."

I blinked in surprise. That was technically what I was supposed to be doing too but I had failed miserably. I noticed that he had a few sheet of paper in his hand that was down by his side. "What are you working on?"

David hesitated. He looked away and seemed to consider something before lifting the hand with the papers. I took them gently and looked them over. I had expected words but instead there were drawings. Schematics probably would've been a better word. It appeared to be some type of gauntlet. I didn't get it until I noticed the six holes along the main piece that rested on the forearm.

"Is this a new type of poke ball holder?" I asked.

He grinned, clearly a little embarrassed. "Yeah. I thought it would be kind of cool. I'm not sure how to make it work though. I want to run some kind of mechanism up into the palm that, when you touch it, will increase the poke ball's size and eject it so you can grab it and throw."

I looked to my friend, back down to his drawings and back to him. "That is probably the coolest thing I have ever heard! When you figure out how to make them, I want one!"

David laughed and Dylan emerged from his room across the hallway. "What're you guys making so much noise about?"

"Yeah, why are you here?" David asked.

"Oh, yeah!" My interest in what David had been working on had gotten my completely sidetracked. I told them about the show I'd been watching and how we had been labeled dark horses.

They completely blew it off.

"It's nice that they think we have skills, but I'm not worried about it," Dylan said and David echoed his sentiment.

After they had closed their doors, I decided that maybe I had nothing to worry about either. I went back into my room and pulled my laptop back into my lap. There was still work to be done before morning.

I arrived with plenty of time before my match but Kiera still beat me there. Apparently the photo that was on the website was not recent. Her picture had shown her with short, spiky hair but not it was longer, down to her jaw line although still was tipped in pink. When we got close for the pre-match handshake, I noticed that she had a few less piercings than in her photo or had merely removed a few of them for television. We exchanged a few words and I flubbed over most of mine. Being on live television in front of millions of people didn't phase but me I had issues talking to a cute girl. I could only hope that the cameras weren't close enough to catch any of it.

The colored wheel began to spin as we headed back to our boxes. I managed to set my feet just as the spinning light settled on green. A quick glance at the outline of my trainer's box reminded me that I was the red trainer.

Kiera held a poke ball aloft. "Serperior, let's go!"

I'd seen pokemon that'd looked mean, or nice, or even evil. Never had a seen one that looked smug and that's exactly what Serperior looked like. Long and serpentine, it held its head aloft to prominently display the fancy looking collar that framed the head. Shades of green colored the pokemon with a small marking of yellow. I'd never seen this particular Fiver before but the small leafy appendages made me fairly certain that it was a grass-type.

"See one, play one," I said, quoting one of my grandfather's favorite sayings when playing cards. I tossed a poke ball up to myself, snagging it out of the air after it had grown back to normal size. "Fraxure, go!"

The crowd oo-ed and ah-ed over the two new pokemon. Despite having been around for a handful of months now, people still got a rush out of seeing new pokemon. I, on the other hand, was a bit hesitant. I had no idea what this pokemon was capable of. There was a chance that it had a secondary type that wasn't immediately obvious.

There was only one way to find out. "Fraxure, dragon pulse!"

"Dodge it!"

Serperior moved with startling speed. It corkscrewed its body around the incoming attack, letting it pass by untouched. The glowing purple orb exploded harmlessly at the edge of the field. Serperior coiled back up in its original position.

"Not too shabby," I had to admit. "Fraxure, dragon claw!"

Fraxure lunged at its opponent, bringing glowing green claws to bear. Serperior swirled around and avoided every strike. It was like the grass pokemon could bend at any point along its body. That flexibility combined with its speed made Serperior almost impossible for Fraxure to hit.

"Leaf blade!"

The last few feet of Serperior's tail glowed a shade of bright green that I recognized. Cracking its body like a whip, the leaf blade was slashed across Fraxure. My pokemon staggered back and was slashed again.

Kiera saw her opening. "Use dragon pulse!"

Serperior's head pulled back to then snap forward and launch the purple orb. Fraxure disappeared momentarily in the explosion before bouncing back out of it. The dragon pokemon braced itself on all fours and shakily pushed itself back up. I pulled a poke ball from my belt and removed Fraxure from the battle. It was pretty clear that the speed factor had greatly tilted this battle out of my pokemon's favor.

I held out a different poke ball on the tips of my fingers. "You like speed? I'll give you speed. Sceptile, go!"

"Serperior, use calm mind!"

The long grass-type coiled itself up and closed its eyes. The air around it actually seemed to distort as the pokemon gathered and raised its power. When the eyes opened, they held a faint white glow that quickly vanished.

"Energy ball!" I shouted.

"Block it with dragon pulse!"

Green and purple slammed into each other. Had there been any terrain, the explosion would've ripped it apart. Clearly the use of calm mind had increased the power of Serperior's attacks amongst other things.

Sceptile looked to me and I gave it the briefest of nods. "Go!"

There was a special trust that trainers gained with certain pokemon. I had it with Sceptile and I also had it with Charizard. There was often no need for me to vocalize my full orders because we had spent so much time together it was like we were of one mind. Right now it was letting Sceptile advance without tipping off my opponent.

"X-scissor!" I ordered.

Sceptile was already emerging from the other side of the explosion trailing streams of fire. It slashed through the air with claws of blue to form the X for which the attack was undoubtedly named. Serperior, no doubt used to its speed advantage, was caught flat-footed. Or something like that, it didn't have any feet to begin with. The impact shoved my opponent's pokemon back several yards.

"Follow up with iron tail!"

It had barely touched down before Sceptile had launched itself again. The entirety of Sceptile's big tail glowed with a silverish hue as the pokemon somersaulted in the air. It brought the full weight of the tail down onto Serperior and drove it into the ground.

"Energy ball!"

Towering over the downed grass pokemon, Sceptile raised a three-clawed hand to the air. The green orb formed just above its claws and the pokemon brought it smashing down on its opponent.

"Serperior, use leaf storm!"

Sceptile lunged back as a solid wall of glowing green leaves shot out of the crater that held Serperior. The leaves left a green streak in the sky as they soared out of sight.

"X-scissor!"

The glowing blue X drove Serperior back into its hole. Where it stayed.

"Serperior is unable to battle!" the referee declared. "Sceptile is the winner!"

"One down, five to go," I whispered to myself. I had been in very few full battles and felt it necessary to keep reminding myself it was more of a sprint now than a race.

Kiera didn't seem distressed by the loss of her pokemon. She simply moved on to the next one. "Exploud, you're up!"

Inwardly, I sighed with relief. Not relief over facing a fully evolved, blue pipe organ monster but over the fact that it was a pokemon that I knew. I knew that it was a normal type and I had an okay grasp on the types of moves it could use. When facing a pokemon like Serperior, I really had no idea what I could be up against.

"Let's pick things back up where we left off," I called to Sceptile. "Leaf blade!"

"Circle throw!"

I wasn't sure what happened or even when Exploud grabbed Sceptile. The next thing I knew, Sceptile was crashing to the ground and Exploud was on its back with both arms and one leg extended in the air. The normal-type pokemon then used its twin pipe tail to push itself back up to a standing position.

"Sceptile, energy ball!"

Snarling, Sceptile flipped over and hurled the grass-type attack without even rising off of all fours.

"Hyper voice!"

Exploud whirled around. I could actually feel the air being drawn away from me by the pipes around Exploud's face and on its limbs. The huge mouth glowed white for just a second and then it came. A monstrous noise that had me scrambling to cover my ears. The noise was like a typhoon coming out of Exploud's mouth, first forcing the energy ball to slow to a crawl and then detonate prematurely. Sceptile was forced to stay low on the ground in hopes of not being blown away.

"Fire fang, Exploud!"

The noise simply ceased. Exploud was already charging at Sceptile with a mouthful of fire before I could even get my hands off my ears. I started yelling a command but Exploud bit down. The two pokemon were lost inside the explosion. When the fires cleared, Exploud stood over my sceptile who was burned and charred but not beaten.

"Sceptile, return!" I ordered. I grabbed another poke ball from my waist and then suddenly stopped mid-throw. I reversed motions and grabbed a different poke ball. This time I gave a brief pause to consider my choice and decided I was doing the right thing this time. "Gengar, go!"

Sure Gengar couldn't touch Exploud with any of its ghost-type moves but I had also neutralized at least two of Exploud's attacks as well. If nothing else, I might be able to force this powerful pokemon off the field.

Kiera gazed out at my pokemon. "Exploud, fire fang!"

Or not.

"Dodge it, Gengar!"

Though a strong pokemon, Exploud was not a fast pokemon. Gengar danced easily out of the way of the lunging jaws. The ghost pokemon darted about in the air making itself an incredibly difficult target to track. Exploud made a lucky guess and just barely snapped its jaws around one of Gengar's legs. The explosion was fleeting but still damaging.

"Dark pulse!" I ordered.

"Hyper beam!"

The swarm of black circles slammed into the powerful yellow beam Exploud had fired from its mouth. I was now even more glad I had sent Gengar out even as the two attacks detonated in a black and yellow explosion. This exploud had some serious firepower. Firepower that I was about to neutralize.

"Gengar, hypnosis!"

Gengar slipped into the ground. It waited for a moment before springing back into existence in front of Exploud. Two shadowy images of Gengar's red eyes launched themselves into Exploud. The bigger pokemon's eyes rolled back into its head as it slumped down to the ground.

"Exploud, return!" Kiera shouted, no doubt anticipating that I was about to employ Dream Eater. "Magnezone, go!"

_Well played_, I thought to myself. A steel- and electric-type like the bulky magnezone had a plethora of resistances, an immunity and few weaknesses. The distorted and bloated middle magnemite fixed its red pupil on my gengar. The two other magnemites that acted as arms raised up their large magnets.

"Gengar, return!" I ordered. The real question now was whether or not this pokemon knew the move Magnet Rise. That particular electric attack would make Magnezone immune to ground-type attacks and leave its only weaknesses fire and fighting. A conundrum indeed. "Sandslash, go!"

The ground-type pokemon flexed its claws in anticipation. It was still smarting from its beat down at the hands of Red's donphan. The pokemon was in dire need of a win to boost its confidence.

"Magnet rise!" Kiera commanded and there was a slight glow to the bottom of Magnezone now.

"Well shit," I muttered.

"Giga impact!"

"Shit!" I said again as Magnezone came rocketing towards Sandslash cloaked in energy. "Dig!"

Sandslash burrowed underground and Magnezone shot right past. The energy that had been surrounding it disappeared with a popping noise. Magnezone rotated around slowly, clearly not worried about where Sandslash was going to reappear. It probably should've been.

"Focus blast!"

Sandslash rocketed out of the ground holding the focus blast aloft. It slammed the glowing ball into Magnezone from close range so it had no chance to dodge. Magnezone twirled drunkenly away from the impact.

"Flash cannon!" Kiera ordered.

A shimmering silver orb formed in front of Magnezone once it had steadied itself and exploded out into a beam. Sandslash flattened itself against the ground in an effort to avoid the blast. The tips of the spikes on its back showed signs of charring once the steel-type beam had passed.

"Sandslash, return!" I ordered. As much as I wanted to battle with Sandslash, it was ill-equipped to deal with Magnezone. Hiding underground and popping back up with a focus blast was only going to work so many times. I needed other options. "Swampert, go!"

"Magnezone, use giga impact!"

"Hammer arms, Swampert!"

Swampert rose up on its hind legs and brought its glowing forearms crashing down on the surging Magnezone. At first they were both held in stasis, then an explosion ripped them apart. Digging its arms into the ground Swampert managed to stay upright. Lacking the appendages to do so and already in the air, Magnezone was again thrown wildly out of control.

"Muddy water!"

Already standing, Swampert merely had to lunge forward to fire its attack. The pillar of brown, dirty water scored a direct hit. Still unable to regain full control, Magnezone bounced off one of the arena walls before rejoining the battle.

"Flash cannon!" Kiera shouted.

I countered with, "Ice beam!"

The swirling jets of blue slammed into the shimmering beam. Each pushed the other forward before being pushed back itself. Finally the strain of the two attacks was too much and they detonated.

"Get it!" I shouted at my pokemon and pointed for it to around the explosion. "Hammer arm!"

A flash cannon beam tore through the explosion right where my pokemon would have been if it had dove through it like I'd had pokemon do previously. I had considered doing this with Swampert as well but didn't think its slower speed would let it get through the explosion as unfazed as my previous pokemon. I'd been lucky. Magnezone buzzed in surprise as Swampert came around the side and swatted it aside. As it bounced once off the ground and flipped over I saw that extra glow on its bottom vanish.

I lifted both hands to sky, palms up. "Earthquake!"

Swampert slammed its hands down on the ground. The ground trembled fiercely and I could track the powerful shockwave that headed for Magnezone. It tried to get back aloft but the quake overtook it.

"Magnezone is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Swampert is the winner!"

Kiera finally reacted. It wasn't much but the concerned frown was more than she'd displayed so far. She clearly hadn't expected his magnezone to be dispatched quite as quickly as it was. The odds of me carrying two ground-type pokemon both with other super-effective attacks besides those of the ground variety had to be pretty slim.

"Poliwrath, go!"

Big and bulky, I recognized the pokemon with the spiral in its stomach instantly. It was a curious choice since I had already deployed a grass-type and a ghost-type. She must have been hoping that my sceptile was not in good enough shape to be sent back out. I couldn't be sure that it was so why take the chance?

"Swampert, return!" I ordered. "Gengar, let's go!"

Gengar darted around as it snickered. It was clearly feeling good about this match-up.

"Gengar, use shadow punch!"

"Rock tomb!"

Holding its hands aloft, the faint image of a giant silver boulder formed above Poliwrath's head. Undeterred by the shadow punch that slammed into its midsection Poliwrath hurled the boulder. It slammed into Gengar and shattered into several small balls of light. The balls of light fell to the ground and where they landed became spires of rock that pointed in all directions to form a barrier around Gengar.

"Now use hydro pump!"

From the white area containing the spiral on Poliwrath's belly came a great burst of shimmering water. It's movements hampered by the rock tomb, Gengar disappeared in the blast. I finally saw my pokemon again when I realized it was being pinned against the wall of the arena. Utilizing the fact that it was a ghost Gengar slid into the wall and back out a few feet away and away from the hydro pump.

"Give it to 'em!" I shouted, holding up a fist. "Shadow punch!"

Gengar shot into the sky. It got so high that it was almost undetectable. Then came a great mass of darkness. At first it appeared to be one solid mass. Then as it got closer everyone could see that it wasn't one but many. Gengar was throwing shadow punches as fast as its arms could move. Some came down in straight shots, some juking at random angles and some making wide spirals.

"Hydro pump again!" Kiera yelled, distress clear in her voice.

The huge blast of water ate up most of the shadow punches. Those moving in erratic ways or in spirals were left unmolested. These punches pounded into Poliwrath one after another, finally driving the pokemon down.

"Here we go! Hypnosis!"

Like a meteor coming to Earth, Gengar rocketed down from the sky. It needed to be up close to make sure that this hypnosis worked. The ghost pokemon had closed to within ten yards or so when Poliwrath erupted in water. Hydro pump slammed into my pokemon, driving it first into the air and then tossing it aside. Gengar crashed down hard and lay unmoving in the very center of the field.

"Gengar is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Poliwrath is the winner!"

"Hmph, well played," I grunted. "Sceptile, come on back!"

"Poliwrath, return!" Kiera ordered. "Glalie, go!"

A solid orb of black rock with two conical horns was coated by a lattice of icing. Deep-set blue eyes gave it a menacing look. This was not something I had expected nor did I want to see. My team had a serious issue with ice-types. Of my remaining five pokemon, three were weak towards ice.

The obvious thing to do was to recall my pokemon. So I shouted, "Sceptile, iron tail!"

Like a tennis racket swatting a ball, Sceptile's glowing tail sent Glalie flying. Superior speed and surprise had given Sceptile just the opening it needed to launch the opening salvo.

"Ice beam!"

Two icy jets shot out from the horns, combing into one powerful blast. It was stronger and faster than I had anticipated and Sceptile took the brunt of it. The pokemon shuddered violently once it made it back up onto one knee. Frost decorated various parts of its body. Even if Sceptile had been at close to full power, there was now a good chance that it was frozen. No way was I going to continue on. Unless there was an emergency, Sceptile was most likely lost for the battle.

"Sceptile, return!" I looked down at the poke ball. "Thanks buddy. You were great." And then selecting another poke ball, I said, "Charizard, go!"

This time it was my turn to be surprised.

"Glalie, head butt!"

Saying Glalie head butt my charizard with serious force, almost knocking it off its feet, is misleading. A glalie is nothing but a giant head. Any kind of physical contact is technically a head butt.

"Flamethrower!" I roared. This was playing out the same way the previous encounter had only in reverse.

"Light screen!"

Ok, maybe not exactly the same.

Fire splashed around the shimmering, golden box that now encased Glalie. The ice pokemon certainly didn't escape harm by any means but the damage it took was now significantly reduced. Well that sure made things difficult.

"Head butt again!"

"Intercept with dragon claw!"

Charizard's claws glowed a light blue and left traces in the air as it slammed them into the oncoming Glalie. The two pokemon struggled against each other before Glalie lost the battle of strength and went careening off to the side.

"Flamethrower again!" I yelled.

Flames swarmed around the golden box. I had hoped a quick and powerful attack to Glalie's flank might shatter the shield but there was no such luck.

"Focus blast!"

"Iron head!"

Glalie recovered its stability in time to come charging in at my pokemon, coated in silvery energy. Charizard hurled its focus blast as it lunged backwards with a beat of its might wings. The blast was fluttering peculiarly again and missed. Glalie pounded into Charizard, hurtling it backwards.

"Maybe Sandslash has the right idea, always using focus blast up close," I muttered to myself. Glalie firing off an ice beam now so I shouted, "Flamethrower!"

The fire ate up the ice beam. It quickly pushed its way all the way back to Glalie before running into the light screen again.

"All right, enough of this!" I declared, tired of watching my attacks die against that light screen. "Flare blitz!"

Charizard launched into the air, spitting flames. It shot right through those flames and they swirled around the pokemon until it was completely coated. Now a giant fiery projectile, Charizard aimed itself for Glalie. Kiera knew her light screen wasn't going to block this. She was already scrambling for the proper poke ball to recall Glalie. It was a race to see who was faster: Charizard of Kiera.

Charizard won.

The fire pokemon slammed into Glalie. The laser from the poke ball bounced harmlessly off my pokemon as it drove Glalie back and into the ground. Charizard simply overwhelmed the ice pokemon. Red sparks played across my pokemon's body as it drew back up to its full height.

"Glalie is unable to battle! Charizard is the winner!" the ref waved the red flag he held in my direction. "The green trainer has lost three pokemon, so there will be a 5 minute respite."

I had forgotten about this rule where as soon as a trainer loses half their pokemon a timeout is called. Either way, it gave me a chance to take stock of my remaining team. I had three pokemon essentially in prime fighting form with Charizard, Sandslash and Swampert. Sceptile was out unless I was desperate and I wasn't quite sure where Fraxure was. The dragon pokemon took a few hard hits but had seemed to still have some fight left.

A buzzer sounded to announce the break was over. It had really seemed to go quickly. Because Kiera had sent out the first pokemon to start the match, I know sent out the first. I decided to see what I had left in Fraxure. Kiera countered with the still sleeping Exploud.

I decided to take advantage of the sleeping pokemon. "Fraxure, get it started with dragon dance."

Fraxure lifted its hands into the air, palms up. It swung them down together in a circle until they were all the way back up again. Then the hands dropped and the elbows tucked in against the dragon's body. Purple flames erupted from the pokemon's feet and swirled around my pokemon's body. As quickly as they had appeared, the flames vanished.

Exploud still slept.

"Now!" I pointed at Exploud. "Dragon claw!"

Fraxure launched itself at Exploud, green claws pulled back for a strike.

Exploud's eyes snapped open.

"Oh fu-"

"Circle throw!"

This time I was able to see more clearly as Exploud grabbed my pokemon with both hands as it tipped over backwards. Using a foot to add momentum to Fraxure, it hurled the pokemon over its head. The big tail allowed Exploud to get back on its feet before Fraxure had even finished its tumbling crash.

"Hyper beam!" Kiera yelled.

With added speed gained from the dragon dance, Fraxure was able to scramble away from the incoming hyper beam. The main force of the strike was avoided but the shockwave from the explosion still sent Fraxure tumbling again.

"We've got an opening!" I advised my pokemon as Exploud was going to be briefly paralyzed. "Dragon pulse and then dragon claw!"

Fraxure spat out the purple blast while still down on all fours. It began clawing its way forward. As it picked up speed, the pokemon rose back up to two legs before jumping at Exploud. I couldn't see the normal-type pokemon in the explosion the dragon pulse had created but Fraxure apparently could. It raked each set of claws over what I assumed was Exploud. Then a giant fiery mouth emerged from the explosion to clamp down on Fraxure, most of my pokemon disappearing into the mouth and then all of it vanishing in the explosion.

When the fires had cleared, the ref announced, "Fraxure is unable to battle! Exploud is the winner!"

The scoreboard said I was still up one pokemon but I think we both knew that it was now even. Possibly, the odds were even against me. Kiera still had a pokemon that I hadn't even seen yet. If I wanted to move on to the round of thirty-two I was going to have to be smart about things.

"Sandslash, let's go!"

Kiera stuck with Exploud. "Hyper voice!"

"Dig!"

Sandslash was swallowed up by the ground as the powerful sound waves washed over the field. The ground between Exploud's feet cracked slightly and then Sandslash blew out of the hole. Exploud hadn't been able to brace itself and was thrown back off its feet. I took advantage of Exploud's precarious position by having Sandslash use focus blast. Exploud burst out of the explosion with a fire burning deep in its mouth.

"How about a mouthful of rollout?" I yelled.

Exploud's fire fang met Sandslash's rollout in an explosion that sent the two pokemon flying apart. Sandslash kept up its spin when it landed and came barreling back in on its opponent. The ground-type pokemon slammed into Exploud and sent it staggering back. A hyper voice disrupted Sandslash's momentum and sent it sprawling to the ground.

"Sandslash, return! Go, Charizard!"

"Hyper beam!"

"Dodge!"

Charizard's wings unfurled to their full span and launched the pokemon into the air. The yellow beam passed underneath, harmlessly.

I decided it was time to end this. "Charizard, use flare blitz!"

Cloaking itself in fire, Charizard dove for Exploud. The paralysis from the hyper beam brief, Exploud was already trying to scramble out of the way. Charizard, however, was not to be denied. The fire pokemon plowed right through the exploud. Red sparks crackled over Charizard as it landed softly.

"Exploud is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Charizard is the winner!"

Now things were really starting to get interesting. Kiera took good and long to decide which of her two remaining pokemon she would use. In the end, she returned Poliwrath to the field. I wasted no time in clearing Charizard from the field. In its stead, I sent out Swampert. It was now bulky water-type versus bulky water-type.

"Poliwrath, use dynamic punch!"

"Hammer arm!"

The two pokemon charged each other. Poliwrath had a glowing fist cocked back. Swampert lifted a glowing forearm. The impact of the two attacks was tremendous. I actually felt the ground beneath my feet tremble. There were trenches carved into the ground from where each pokemon had been thrown back.

I filled my lungs to bellow out another attack when a though struck me: I didn't know what ability Poliwrath had. Normally this wasn't a concern to me and I'd simply plow ahead. This time though… this time something I had read when studying possibly pokemon Kiera might have came back to me. One of Poliwrath's abilities prevented opposing pokemon from using explode or selfdestruct. But the other healed Poliwrath every time it was hit with a water-type attack. It was a chance I couldn't take so I switched my command to, "Ice beam!"

In the moment I had hesitated while remembering, Poliwrath exploded with a hydro pump. Ice crystals began to form where the two attacks met. Quickly they fused into a miniature glacier. The two pokemon on the field were now completely separated and unable to see one another.

From the other side I heard, "Bulk up and dynamic punch!"

Although I couldn't see it, I could imagine Poliwrath flexing and its muscles bulging as it increased its power. The glacier then shattered as Poliwrath punched its way through. Its big eyes got even bigger when Swampert was right in its face as it passed through the falling ice shards.

"Hammer arms!"

Swampert buried an arm into Poliwrath's gut. It then pulled back and lunged forward, clotheslinging the fighting-type water pokemon to the ground with a second hammer arm.

"Bring the pain!" I yelled. "Earthquake!"

Drawing its arms up high, Swampert slammed the down on either side of Poliwrath. The downed pokemon took one-hundred percent of the power of the earthquake. Poliwrath was bounced around violently before going into a dazed stillness after the quake had passed.

"Hammer arms!"

Swampert swelled back up to its full height and lifted its two glowing forearms above its head. It brought them down amazing speed and force. Poliwrath was literally crushed into the ground.

The ref waved his flag. "Poliwrath is unable to battle! Swampert is the winner!"

It wasn't until I saw Keira's final pokemon that I really regretted my pokemon management. A light purple fur coated the four-legged creature from the tip of its forked tail all the way up to its big ears. Creepy pupil-less eyes stared at me, drawing attention away from the red crystal in between the eyes of the espeon. A ghost-type pokemon would've been wonderful to have against this psychic-type. Or a grass-type armed with a powerful bug-type move for that matter. However, that was in the past and I'd have to use what I had left.

"Swampert, return!" I ordered, deciding it might be best to swap to a fresher pokemon. "You're up Sandslash!"

For a moment, neither pokemon nor trainers moved.

"Sandslash, use slash!"

"Iron tail!"

Glowing white claws met glowing silver tail. At first the two attacks were held in stasis but with a sudden burst of energy Espeon overpowered my pokemon and swatted it aside.

"Espeon, psyshock!"

Some kind of weird, pulsing energy ball formed in front of Espeon's face. Light blue, blue and purple colors swirled inside it. If it weren't hurtling towards my pokemon, I probably would've found it quite beautiful.

"Focus blast!"

With a two-handed heave Sandslash hurled the light blue orb into the path of the oncoming psyshock. The two attacks detonated but such was the force of the oncoming psyshock that it still threw Sandslash back.

"Use double team!"

In the blink of an eye, there was now espeon everywhere. In unison, they raised their heads and all their eyes glowed a strange light blue. The light faded and then nothing happened. I wasn't fooled though. Espeon had just used future sight and sooner or later, the psychic attack would hit.

"Sandslash, use dig!"

We both knew that I was just trying to buy myself some time. I had no idea which of the pokemon on the field were real and which were images. Unless I came up with some way to differentiate between the two, it was nothing but a crap shoot.

With the espeon waiting patiently, I formed my plan. "Ok… strike now!"

Sandslash erupted from the ground near a group of espeon. It managed to make contact with all four of them and each one dissipated.

"Now use rollout! Make a loop!"

Diving into a roll, Sandslash became a spinning wheel of devastation. It made a wipe loop around the field and came into contact with as many of the espeon that it could. Quickly the numbers were thinned. A handful of seconds later and there were only two left and they were standing next to each other.

"Slash!"

Sandslash came out of its roll and used the momentum to propel it right at Espeon and its copy. Claws raised and glowing, Sandslash was poised to make a decisive strike.

Then the future sight hit.

A blast of invisible energy slammed Sandslash straight down into the ground.

"Espeon, use psyshock!"

The second espeon disappeared as a gelatinous orb formed in front of the remaining espeon. Espeon whirled its head around and the orb shot out at Sandslash. It exploded upon contact. I thought Sandslash might survive the attack but then I saw Espeon flipping over in the air above my pokemon. It came crashing down with a powerful iron tail that was enough.

"Sandslash is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Espeon is the winner!"

I could almost hear the announcers that were calling the battle proclaiming that now they really had a fight on their hands. And they were right. Espeon had just taken apart my sandslash and suffered no damage. Charizard and Swampert had already been through grueling battles and Sceptile was essentially unavailable. My next choice could sway the battle one way or another.

It was an easy choice. "Charizard, go! Flamethrower!"

Espeon was quick. It was already darting away from the flames. Taking a jagged path up to my pokemon, it launched off the ground for an iron tail. Charizard wasn't exactly slow. It intercepted the iron tail with a dragon claw, successfully blocking it. As the two pokemon were separated, Charizard basted Espeon with another flamethrower and deliver to it its first damage of the match.

"Espeon, use future sight and then psyshock!"

The psychic pokemon looked to the sky and I saw the light blue flash in its eyes. The seconds were now counting down until a psychic strike arrived. Its first task completed, Espeon fired off its psychic orb.

"Focus blast!" I ordered.

Charizard extended a hand backwards to form the fighting-type attack. I spared a quick glance at the hand and noticed how tightly the three claws were being held together. An image of Sandslash flashed in my mind and how it always seemed to hold its focus blast more loosely.

"Loosen your grip when you throw!" I shouted quickly.

I got a snort of reply as Charizard was already in its throwing motion. I'm not sure if the pokemon was able to adjust to such a random adjustment that quickly or not, but this time the focus blast flew straight. It slammed into the psyshock and the two attacks detonated.

"Flamethrower up close!"

Charizard surged through the explosion only to find over a dozen Espeon waiting for it. The big fire pokemon looked from side to side. This wouldn't be a problem for Charizard. It could quickly roast them all with its flamethrower. Then from the side came the only moving Espeon. I never saw it coming as it whirled around and delivered a devastating iron tail to the side of Charizard's head. This was followed up with a psyshock that caught Charizard in the back just between the wings. The future sight came from the opposite direction and hit my pokemon so hard it was lifted off its feet.

"Psyshock again!" Kiera yelled. "Finish it off!"

"Flamethrower!"

Arching its long neck around Charizard was able to fire off an attack that deflected the psyshock wide and give itself enough time to roll back over onto its stomach. The big blue wings snapped back to attention and with three quick beats, Charizard was hovering a few feet off the ground.

"Dragon claw!"

Charizard raced in and lunged with a glowing green claw. Espeon whirled around and met the dragon attack with and iron tail. The two pokemon were locked together, each struggling for the upper hand.

"Dragon claw!" I repeated. "Other hand!"

The other hand of Charizard pounded Espeon into the ground. With the claws using the original attack now free for use, Charizard drove those claws down into Espeon as well. A psyshock fired up from where Espeon lay but Charizard's flying abilities carried it away from harm. Espeon clambered back up to its feet where it swayed dangerously for a moment. It may have had impressive special defenses but its physical defenses were lacking.

"Finish it!" I called up to my pokemon who was circling the field from the air. "Flare blitz!"

"No! No! No!" Kiera screamed. "Psyshock!"

A huge blob of psychic energy welled up in front of Espeon and it fired. Cloaked in flames, Charizard ran right into it. At first I was worried that it might blast my pokemon off course. There was a roar and suddenly the fires of the flare blitz intensified. The psyshock blob burst apart and rained down colorful drops over the field. Charizard plowed into the shocked Espeon, dragged it across the ground and then finally slammed it into the wall of the arena. Red sparks played across Charizard as it stepped back, wavered and then caught its balance.

"Espeon is unable to battle!" the ref declared and pointed both his colored flags at me. "Charizard is the winner and victory to the red trainer!"

I breathed a sigh of relief and gave my pokemon a nod of thanks. It spat a small ball of fire and returned the nod. I collected the pokemon and then moved to the side of the field where Kiera and I shook hands. No words were exchanged this time.

I could hear my name being screamed from somewhere in the stands. It wasn't like someone just screaming because I had won but with a note of familiarity to it. I spun around and my eyes traced the crowd until I found the source: my parents. They were sitting with Dylan's parents and Professor Oak. I pointed at them with both hands and then waved. Officials were escorting me off the field otherwise I would've tried to communicate with them further. There wouldn't be a lot of time for us to hang out but I was pretty sure they knew that already.

"Something's not right," Dylan said as he raised his drink to his lips.

We were seated at a little table outside a Mexican restaurant only a few blocks from our hotel. It was actually an authentic Mexican restaurant unlike the ones we were used to so we ordered hesitantly. Our parents had already come and gone, leaving the three of us to prepare for our matches the next day.

"You're damned right it is. You assholes ate all the salsa." I tried in vain to scrape a little more salsa off the bottom of the black stone bowl with one of the remaining tortilla chips.

"Not that, you idiot," Dylan sighed as he set the translucent red plastic cup back on the wire table. "I mean with this whole tournament."

David, who had been barely paying attention, set down his notepad and looked at Dylan. "What do you mean? You think the tournament is fixed?"

"No, nothing like that."

I shrugged. "So everything's normal."

"No!" Dylan vehemently shook his head.

Now I was confused. "So it is fixed?" I set my chip down. I was probably going to need to pay attention for this.

"Not with the tournament," Dylan said both literally and figuratively grasping for words. "With us."

David and I exchanged looks. "What?"

Before answering, Dylan took another drink. Most likely just to buy himself time to organize his thoughts. "Ok, here's the way I look at it: we should've been eliminated already."

We said nothing and waited for him to continue.

"Think about it: we're first year trainers. Not first time entrants like a lot of these so called 'first-timers'. We have literally been at this for just over a year now. I'm not saying we aren't good at what we do but there is no way that we should be able to continually compete at the level at which we at.

Not convinced? Think about the trainer Tim beat today. This was her second time entering the League Tournament. _Second time_. She's been through all this before which should probably mean a lot of her pokemon have been through this before as well. Yet Tim beat her. It wasn't a cakewalk by any means but it was a solid victory. He should've been smashed by a seasoned veteran."

I leaned back in my chair. What he said did make sense. I knew that Kiera had been in the tournament before but I never even stopped to think about the fact that I should've been rolled up and tossed aside with ease. The more I thought about it, everything he said made sense.

"So then," David said and crossed his arms over his chest. "I assume this means you have some type of theory about it."

Dylan shrugged. "Not really. I don't think all our pokemon received some type of mystical power-up. We'd probably have remembered that."

"What about-," I paused and leaned in closer, "the Legendary Beasts?"

It was David who shot that idea down. "Only three of our pokemon were affected by them, not all of them."

A silence descended over our table. Our minds all worked in an effort to find reasoning to support Dylan's theory. David and I had never even thought about it before just then but now it consumed our thoughts.

David came forward with a start, jostling the table and causing some of his drink to spill. "Ok, when did things start becoming easier for us? At what point did we start having a lot less issue with Gym Leaders?"

Dylan and I exchanged a look. I answered, "I guess for me… the first Gym I could say I defeated with relative ease had to be the grass-type one."

After a pause, Dylan agreed. "Then after that it was the psychic one. We trounced that one. The fire one was super difficult either."

"That's what I was going to say too," David said excitedly. "And what happened right before the grass gym?"

I searched my memory but Dylan beat me to it. "Pallet Town!"

"Ok, so?" I asked. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Don't you get it?" Dylan grabbed my sleeve. "It was that huge battle we had at the end! It functioned like one huge battle!"

I still wasn't following so David filled in the blanks. "Say you have a new pokemon and you want to get it some experience so you send it out to start a battle. Then you pull it back and swap to a stronger pokemon. Every pokemon that partakes in that particular battle gains some experience and grows stronger."

"Oh… OH!"

Dylan smiled. "That's nothing. We didn't even knock out that many pokemon then. That helped but not as much as the next one."

"Wait, wait, wait. Wait." I waved him down. "You think all our pokemon were picking up experience when we defeated Team Rocket? With the dragons? All our pokemon had been knocked out!" It had been a good theory but clearly wrong now.

"They had been," David agreed, "but I think they were revived somewhere along the way. Maybe one of the Legendary Beasts, either trio of them. Maybe a dragon." He paused. "But the more I think about it, there was never any mention of having to heal our pokemon."

I tried to dispute this but realized I couldn't. "That doesn't mean they weren't."

"Hey, I'm not even saying I'm right about this whole thing," Dylan said and held up his hands. "Maybe we're just that good at what we do. I just thought it seemed strange so I brought it up." He reached for his cup again. "For all I know, we've just massively underestimated our competition."

Somehow, I seriously doubted that.


	56. Special Author's Note

Although they will most likely never find it here, I would like to extend my condolences to the friends, family and loved ones of long-time reader and frequent reviewer of this story, Scott. I was informed that he has recently passed away after a battle with cancer. His girlfriend let me know that my story and a different story titled "Shedding Skins" were something that gave him some happiness near the end which is a very humbling feeling.

I hope they have the internet in Heaven, Scott. Because the story's not over yet.


	57. Chapter 56

"Block it with discharge, Raichu!" I yelled.

Already on the ground, Raichu lifted it's bolt-shaped tail into the air. A multitude of electric blue bolts fired out from the tip, creating almost a webbing of lightning. The incoming stone edge attack was intercepted and blown apart by the discharge. With a snarl, Raichu bounced back up to its feet.

"Enough of this!" I called out. "Thunder!"

"Rai-CHU!" With vicious efficiency, Raichu exploded with lightning and blasted its poor opponent of a torkoal clear across the field. The fire pokemon bounced once and landed upside-down on its shell. It was clearly struggling to right itself.

"Iron tail!"

Raichu raced across the field and swung for the fences with its tail. Torkoal was launched again. It came crashing down face-first.

"Torkoal is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Raichu is the winner!"

In a display of its power, Raichu shot little sparks of electricity out of its cheek pouches while I surveyed the scene. Russell, my opponent, was down to his final pokemon now and that pokemon had already seen combat. I still had four left including Raichu, having only lost Krookodile and Abomasnow. The driver's seat for this match was firmly occupied by me.

"Luxray, come on back!"

The black-haired electric pokemon cringed as it appeared. It was a feral looking creature that fixed me with a menacing glare.

I removed Raichu from the field and thought for a moment. "Steelix, go!"

It was going to be overkill but I'd rather have that then let Russell get back into the match somehow. Steelix loomed high above Luxray and the smaller pokemon took a step back. They had tangled earlier in the match and it had not gone Luxray's way.

"Hyper beam!" Russell yelled.

"Flash cannon!"

Steelix was both quicker and more powerful. My pokemon's beam was almost to Luxray before the electric-type had fired its own. Quickly the flash cannon overwhelmed the hyper beam and slammed into Luxray where it exploded.

The referee pointed both his flags at me. "Luxray is unable to battle! Steelix is the winner and victory to the red trainer!"

And just like that, I was on to the Sweet Sixteen.

Now that I had advanced to the final sixteen, I was forced to give a number of interviews. I did my best to keep them short but there were a number of them to undergo. CBS, the basic cable station showing the tournament, got their own and so did ESPN while all the others got lumped together in a single press conference. I didn't do them all solo though. CBS had Dylan and me give one together but it was thankfully brief. The one where David joined us was longer. We were essentially fed questions to lead us along in outlining how we'd met and how we'd ended up where we were now. Dylan and I left it to David to mention that our threesome had originally been a foursome but he remained mum on the subject. By silent agreement, we omitted everything that had to do with Team Rocket including being at the opening of the Pokemon Sanctuary. Despite it detracting from our time to work with our pokemon, we actually had a lot of fun.

Our segment got a lot of play from what people told me later. I never caught it myself. I saw bits and pieces of others when I had the television on in the background. To me, it always seemed like they were mentioning this Russian trainer. The talking heads seemed to think he was either super interesting or the probable winner.

When it all was finished, we still had a good couple hours to work with our pokemon and tinker with their movesets if we felt it necessary. It wasn't always a good idea to teach a pokemon a new move right before a match. If it was too complex of an a move or attack, it might be hard to utilize quickly in a pinch. This particular night, I was focusing on a new attack with Fraxure.

I was so focused on coaxing the dragon pokemon to create the orb of power in its mouth that I didn't hear Dylan come up behind me until he asked, "What are you doing?"

I jumped a little and spun to face him. "Working on some stealth techniques?"

"What was that?" he asked as I returned Fraxure to its ball. "Was that drac-"

I cut him off. "No."

"Yeah it was."

I shook my head. "It was supposed to be, yes. It's not though. I don't think there's enough trust between us for that yet. But I figured trying couldn't hurt."

Dylan crossed his arms over his chest and looked at me. "Right. Anyways, we were going to head back. Are you coming?"

I looked up at the sky. It was mostly dark now. Rays of the fading sun pierced the gaps between the tall buildings of the skyline and cast peculiar shadows off of everything. If we left now we could make it back to the hotel before the sun was completely gone. Delay at all and we'd be heading back without natural light.

"Yeah, sure. Might as well. I don't think I'm going to get any more productive work in tonight." I paused and reconsidered. "Well, maybe not any training. I still need to do some studying for tomorrow."

"Me too," Dylan agreed as David joined our walking group. "I think I've got my team decided upon but it's too soon to put it in stone."

"The same," David chimed in.

I sighed and looked up at the faded sun. "The night is still young."

The colored wheel spun up on the screen.

Red.

"Let's get this started!" I declared. "Krookodile, go!"

Across the field stood Skyler, a young woman of Asian descent. She appeared to be a few years older than me but it was hard to tell. She finished tying back her long black hair before snatching up a poke ball.

"Skarmory, go!"

I had always wondered how skarmory were able to fly. Sure they had long, slender bodies and a pointed, aerodynamic head with that back-pointing spike. But it was all steel. Even the wings were that same steel and silver color as the rest of the body with the exception of the lower feathers which were colored crimson. In theory, it should not have been able to get off the ground.

In what was a clear attempt to spite me, two flaps of its wings lifted Skarmory off the ground.

"Skarmory, use spikes!" Skyler ordered.

The flying steel-type took to the air. When it reached a certain height, it went into a spin so tight and fast it just looked like a gray mass. From the spinning pokemon a flurry of little red spikes. The spikes hit the ground with little red splashes and faded from existence. For now.

"Shit," I muttered, a little surprised I hadn't run into this tactic before. "Krookodile, use stone edge! Bring Skarmory down to our level!"

The rings of sharpened rocks flashed into being. Krookodile thrust out its arms and the stones shot out for Skarmory. In response, Skarmory snapped its wings twice and fired off two air slashes. The blade-like discs of air slammed into the stones to completely neutralize them.

I bared my teeth in a snarl. Krookodile was outmatched at the moment. Unless Skyler was dumb enough to bring her skarmory closer to the ground, the only thing we could do was continue to hurl stone edges and hope one got lucky. We weren't going to win the battle that way.

"Krookodile, return!" I knew I was playing along with Skyler's plan but I didn't see another option. "Raichu, let's go!"

As soon as Raichu appeared, the ground beneath its feet erupted. Small explosions peppered my pokemon and it winced in pain. I hated doing it but I didn't have another choice.

"Skarmory, return!" Skyler ordered to my surprise. "Marowak, go!"

I had hoped she had just named some other pokemon Marowak instead of it being an actual marowak. The second I saw that skull covering its head and the big bone grasped in its brown-skinned hand I knew I was out of luck. I uttered a few choice four-lettered words as Skyler's plan really started to become clear to me. Every time I switched pokemon, she was going to switch to one that was a bad match-up for me so I would be forced to change again. All the while her spikes would slowly whittle down the health of my pokemon. It was brilliant and quite frankly, I was a little annoyed I had never thought of it.

"No way!" I declared. "We aren't marching to her beat! Raichu, quick attack!"

Skyler was startled that I didn't immediately change and was a little slow to shout, "Bonemerang!"

Raichu was already down on all fours blazing a path across the field, a streak of light and a cloud of dust in its wake. Marowak pulled back and hurled its bone at the oncoming raichu. My pokemon took one shortened stride and leapt right over the spinning bone. Raichu crashed into Marowak and threw it backwards. The electric pokemon's ears twitched and it moved its head aside to avoid the returning bonemerang.

"Iron tail!" I yelled.

"Fire punch!"

With a spin, Raichu slashed at Marowak with its glowing tail. Marowak deflected it with a well placed fire punch. A white aura surrounded the ground-type pokemon and it plowed through Raichu by using double-edge. I noted that it didn't take any recoil damage and I assumed it had the Rock Head ability. It was still early on but I was not liking the way this match was shaping up.

I hefted a poke ball. "Raichu, return! Go Sceptile!"

Other than clenching its eyes, Sceptile had no reaction to the small explosions on the field.

"Marowak, bonemerang!"

"Block it!"

The leaves on Sceptile's arm lit up with neon green. As the spinning bone closed in, Sceptile simply waved its arm in front of its body like it was swatting aside an insect. The bonemerang spun wildly off course and smashed into the ground where it remained lodged. _That _got a reaction from both Skyler and the crowd.

Skyler wasn't deterred though. "Fire punch!"

"Stop it with leaf blade!"

Marowak charged in with its flaming fist cocked back. As it drove it forward, Sceptile slashed across with its leaf blade. The two attacks sizzled, popped and then the built up energy ejected the two pokemon from the exchange. Both lunged forward again but Sceptile was faster. It came in low and drove its leaf blade up like an uppercut to take Marowak right off its feet.

"Stone edge!"

Laying on its back, the stones began spinning around Marowak. The ground-type pokemon rolled backwards to its feet and launched the rocks.

"Energy ball!"

Sceptile hurled the energy ball. It came in contact with the first few stones and exploded, taking the rest of the attack with it. However, it was simply a decoy. While Sceptile was defending itself Marowak had scrambled over and with a grunt of effort, dislodged its bone club from the ground.

"Marowak, return!" Skyler ordered now that her pokemon had retrieved its prized possession. "Go Blaziken!"

"Oh no," I moaned.

Blaziken rose up to its full red-feathered height. The white down on its chest flowed back up its shoulders and out off the body to form almost wings. Between that and the beak-like mouth and scaly clawed hands, the fire- and fighting-type pokemon retained many of its avian features that it had possessed in its previous evolution. That was probably what worried me the most. Blaziken could drawn upon a huge pools of moves which was going to make it a nightmare match-up.

"Sceptile, return!" I had even less choice than before. Sceptile wielded no attacks that could even hurt Blaziken. There were two choices for me but one made more sense than the other. "Swampert, your turn!"

When the explosions sounded around Swampert's feet, I looked to Skyler. I figured this was her cue to bring out some super powerful grass-type. Instead she was motionless. When she finally did move it was just a simple nod, not removing Blaziken like I had expected. There was no way to be certain if I had just thrown a wrench in her strategy or if this still was her strategy.

There was only one way to find out. "Swampert, hydro pump!"

"Agility, Blaziken!"

Blaziken was suddenly gone. The huge blast of slightly glowing water Swampert had fired punched a hole in the streak of light the fire pokemon had left in its wake. Rather than going in a straight line though, Blaziken was making all sorts of erratic turn and changes of direction to make itself hard to track. Swampert tried hydro pump twice more without success.

"Alright then, you're fast," I said as I popped my knuckles. "Let's see you dodge this though. Earthquake!"

Swampert reared back and slammed both fists down onto the field. The ground began to tremble and a huge shockwave ripped out from where Swampert stood.

"Blaze kick!"

Blaziken broke stride and launched into a spinning jump. Halfway through one of the spins, I noticed that fire was now streaming from one of its feet. It made one final whirl and drove the flaming foot into the side of Swampert's head, staggering the pokemon.

"Hammer arm!"

Blaziken might have had its speed boosted by agility but point-blank is hard to dodge. Swampert whipped around and clubbed Blaziken in the upper body with a glowing forearm. The fire pokemon stumbled to the side and leapt away as Swampert smashed another hammer arm down right where it had been standing.

"Sky uppercut!"

Blaziken came back at Swampert. With a leap, it drove a fist glowing light blue up into Swampert's jaw, snapping the pokemon's head back. Swampert was lifted off its feet and crashed down hard on its back.

"Ice beam!" I yelled.

From its prone position Swampert lifted its head and the jets of icy blue lightning ripped out of its mouth. Blaziken snapped its arms across its body in an X. The icy bolts converged together and shoved Blaziken back, the clawed feet leaving grooves in the ground from where it had been forced backwards. Small ice crystals were revealed to have formed along Blaziken's arms when Swampert exhausted its attack. Blaziken flung its arms apart and the ice crystals shattered.

"Stone edge, Blaziken!"

Familiar looking sharp stones began to circle Blaziken, seemingly out of nowhere. The pokemon thrust its claws forward like it was shoving someone back and the stones launched.

"Swampert, use hydro pump!"

Back on its feet now, Swampert unleashed a powerful blast of water. It swept the column of water to the side slightly and successfully washed all the incoming stones out of the air. It was a complete success in all aspects but one: it left Swampert vulnerable.

Blaziken came flying around the column of water at high speeds. It delivered another sky uppercut that put Swampert back on the ground. The fire pokemon spun around to drive a blaze kick down at my pokmeon but Swampert was already rolling aside in anticipation.

"Hammer arms!" I yelled.

Swampert rushed Blaziken, swinging its glowing forearms. With its enhanced speed Blaziken was able to dodge each strike albeit still being forced back. With a lunge Swampert made a move like it was trying to hug Blaziken, arms crossing one above the other as Blaziken kicked back out of the way.

"Earthquake!"

Suddenly Swampert's arms changed directions. As they crossed over each other, they suddenly veered for the sky and then snapped back down for the ground. Blaziken had not expected this and thus was just landing from its jump backwards when the huge shockwave rushed over it. The pokemon had to fight to remain standing. It was the first good shot I'd gotten in all day.

"Hydro pump!"

Make that two good shots. The column of water slammed right into Blaziken's chest and lifted it off the ground. I was starting to feel pretty good about myself until I saw Blaziken move. Somehow it braced itself against the hydro pump and kicked off, launching itself into the sky!

"Oh, come on!" I yelled.

"Stone edge!"

There wasn't enough time for Swampert to cap off its hydro pump and dodge or to re-aim the attack for defensive measures. The stones rained down on my pokemon and I quickly lost sight of it in a haze of rock dust. It took a moment before I caught a glimpse of the massive bulk of my pokemon rising back up. The dust churned and suddenly there was another form in the cloud. I caught a flash of light blue and then Swampert was forcibly ejected from the cloud. Blaziken calmly strolled out a moment later.

I gritted my teeth as Swampert slowly rolled over onto all fours. The water pokemon was a tough pokemon in its own right but it couldn't keep taking this kind of abuse. Even the sturdiest walls eventually fell with enough strikes. The only thing going my way so far was that two of the three attacks Swampert had managed to land were both super-effective. Blaziken's attacks all hit for normal or reduced damage which had helped to level the playing field but the numbers game was starting to tilt dangerously out of our favor.

"Hammer arm!"

"Sky uppercut!"

The two pokemon charged each other. Swampert swung its glowing arm down from above, move like a punch. Blaziken drove its glowing fist upwards. Their fists slammed into each other and immediately sparks began to fly. The two pokemon grunted and strained against each other. Sparks became large bolts of energy that crackled and struck the field.

"Swamp!" Swampert roared.

"Blaze!" Blaziken retorted.

Huge rivers of energy now flowed out from the point of impact, whipping around field and scorching the grounds. Still the two pokemon strained. At Blaziken seemed to be losing ground but then it pushed back until even, then gained ground but then fell back to even again.

"Swamp!"

"Blaze!"

White light began to emanate from where the two pokemon met, growing stronger and brighter.

"SWAM-PERT!"

"BLAZ-IKEN!

The light blasted out into a huge sphere of white light. It quickly encompassed most of the field. A breaking point was hit and everything exploded. The huge, whirling explosion was funneled up into the sky. When the fire and light finally faded all that was left was the two pokemon, scorched and steaming with their fists still touching.

"Blaziken," muttered the fire-type.

"Swamp," groaned my water-type.

Blaziken was the first to move. It staggered back and dropped to a knee. A huge upwelling of hope surged through me.

Swampert collapsed on the ground. It went prone, facedown in the dirt.

"Swampert is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Blaziken is the winner!"

It took me a moment to respond, a moment to realize that this had actually happened. My defensive beast of a water pokemon had just been defeated by a fire-type. At first the crowd was as stunned as I was but then a huge cheer went up for Skyler. Up until this moment, I had always been a favorite of the crowd. Now that had been taken from me too along with a huge chunk of my swagger.

"Okay, fine," I said after I had collected Swampert. "I can play with fire too. Charizard, go!"

I hefted Charizard's poke ball a little higher into the air than my normal throws. When it was unleashed, Charizard was already in the air and flapped its wings to remain aloft. Finally one of my pokemon could avoid those damned spikes.

"Return, Blaziken"

This time there was no hesitation. I tried to guess what pokemon Skyler might send out next. She stared at me long and hard with those dark eyes before finally sending out her next pokemon. I knew it would be a water pokemon but I hadn't guessed the correct one. Two five-pointed violet stars were atop one another with a gold formation on the top star, a cut red stone inlayed in the center. I had guessed maybe a cloyster or something, not a starmie.

"Let's do this!" I shouted to my pokemon. "Flamethrower!"

"Thunderbolt!"

Lightning erupted from the red jewel in the center of Starmie. It slammed into the oncoming gout of fire. The two attacks pushed each other back and forth for only a moment before exploding.

"Focus blast!"

Starmie was already on the move though. The two stars that composed its body were twirling in opposite directions and it launched off the ground. I'm not sure if it was really flying per se but it was close enough. The focus blast slammed into the ground right where the water-type had been.

"Starmie, use hydro pump!" Skyler yelled.

"Dodge it!"

Three tips of the top star bent down and fired blasts of water. The three shots fused into one huge blast of water that came at my pokemon. Charizard swirled around the blast of water in the air, just narrowly avoiding it.

"Dragon claw!"

Charizard continued spiraling down around the hydro pump. Its claws lit up green and it raked them across Starmie. The hydro pump was cut off but Starmie responded by erupting with another thunderbolt. The force of the lightning strike threw the two pokemon apart.

"Alright!" I yelled. "We'll show them! Anything they can do-" I cut off mid-sentence.

I suddenly realized what was happening: I was still marching to Skyler's beat.

By defeating my water-type with her fire-type, she had gotten me fired up into sending my fire-type out. Now she had a water-type on the field. She was trying to goad me into attempting to defeat her water pokemon with my fire. Could I do it? Possibly, but one way or another it would take a serious toll on Charizard. I could satisfy my pride or I could keep one of my most powerful pokemon available for later in the battle.

"Charizard, return!" I ordered. The corners of Skyler's mouth twitched and I knew I had guessed her plan. "Sceptile, go!"

Skyler's mouth twitched again. "Starmie, ice beam!"

Son of a bitch, I'd done it again.

"Energy ball!"

Sceptile hurled the energy ball. It hit the concentration of blue bolts and successfully detonated them all. From the look on Skyler's face, I could guess that was not what she expected to happen.

"Leaf blade!"

My pokemon closed the gap between it and its opponent with alarming speed. Starmie tried to lunge back out of the way. It was fast but Sceptile was faster. The glowing green blades on Sceptile's arm caught Starmie just below the red crystal. The water pokemon went flying backwards, wildly out of control.

"X-scissor!"

Sceptile was upon Starmie in an instant. It drove its claws down to form the glowing X of energy that it slammed into the partially psychic-type starmie for super-effective damage.

"Starmie, return!" Skyler ordered. I had to wonder if this was still part of her plan or not. "Ursaring, go!"

I hadn't seen an ursaring since we had battled Team Rocket. They hadn't changed much. Still big and brown with the trademark cream ring on its abdomen. Sadly, it still sported huge claws on both its hands and feet.

"Sceptile, leaf blade!"

Sceptile charged. It pulled its right arm back as the two big leaves on the forearm folded down into glowing blades.

"Protect!"

A translucent half-sphere shimmered to life around Ursaring. Sceptile was already mid-swing at that point. The glowing green blades screeched across the shield, throwing sparks. As soon as the leaf blades were clear and able to do no more damage the shield fell.

"Ice punch!"

Ursaring's big claws folded into a fist. Swirling mists encapsulated it as Ursaring drove the ice punch into Sceptile's midsection. The grass pokemon practically folded in half.

"Close combat!"

Suddenly Ursaring was a flurry of punches and kicks, battering my sceptile who had yet to recover from the previous attack. A vicious combination was finished off by a big foot to Sceptile's chest that finally separated the two pokemon.

"Sceptile, return!" the pokemon clearly needed a moment to recover from that kind of beating. "Heracross, go! Use stone edge!"

"Protect!"

Ursaring threw up its hands and its shield just in time for the incoming stones to impact it. Some stones exploded into dust while others simply blew into tiny shards.

Now it was time for a taste of their own medicine. "Close combat!"

Heracross timed its charge perfectly, clearing the space where the protective shield was milliseconds after it vanished. A solid right hand from Heracross spun Urasring around. Facing Ursaring's back, Heracross delivered a barrage of punches to the lower lumbar region. A kick to the big normal-type pokemon's knee dropped it down closer to Heracross's level. A spinning roundhouse kick slammed Ursaring down to the ground face first.

"Ursaring, return!" Skyler ordered, cutting off Heracross's onslaught before it could finish off Ursaring. "Go Marowak!"

I started to reach for a poke ball when I saw it. I mean, I could literally almost see it. This right now was a major turning point in the battle. My sceptile had already easily overpowered Marowak earlier and therefore made sense to send back out. But that had to be exactly what Skyler wanted. She must be hoping that since it had taken damage that it could either be worn down further or defeated. I stared at the field and swore that I could see the two paths I could take playing out. One path had me continuing to try and match up perfectly with whatever Skyler sent out. The other had me trusting my pokemon and not marching to her tune. One path definitely lead to failure. The other didn't have a clear finish but that was better than failure.

"Heracross, stone edge!"

Clearly expecting me to make a change, Skyler was a little slow on the draw. "Marowak, stone edge!"

The two rock-type attacks slammed into one another, effectively neutralizing them both.

"Marowak, double edge!"

"Megahorn!"

A white glow swept over Heracross's mighty horn. Its wings snapped open and the pokemon shot off. The two competitors rammed into each other, each with their own white glow. It quickly became evident that Heracross was the stronger of the two pokemon as it knocked Marowak back and then with a burst of speed, laid it out.

As Marowak was rolling back to its feet, Skyler yelled, "Bonemerang!"

"Aerial ace!"

Suddenly Heracross veered up into the sky at an impossible angle. The spinning bone passed harmlessly underneath. The bug pokemon continued lifted its horn and angle of ascent until it was flipping itself back over and coming back down. White energy began to stream from its horn as it completed its flip and rammed Marowak.

"Stone edge!" Skyler shouted.

Even while flat on its back, Marowak could launch its stone attack. Not expecting a retaliatory strike so quickly, Heracross was caught unaware. The rocks pounded into it and quickly obscured the pokemon in a cloud of dust.

"Close combat!"

"Counter with fire punch!"

Heracross shot out of the dust cloud leaving streaks of dirt in the air behind it. Marowak swung first with its fist ablaze. Heracross strafed to the side to allow the fist to pass by harmlessly. Then Heracross grabbed onto the arm. Pivoting its feet and using Marowak's own momentum, Heracross swung Marowak right off its feet and hurled it across the field. The ground-type pokemon bounced once and tried to roll to its feet but found that my pokemon was already upon it. A series of punches and then a stiff kick to the face sent Marowak sprawling again. Heracross had already shot around to behind the stumbling pokemon and swung both hands together in a hammer blow across the pokemon's back. Marowak went down and went down hard.

"Marowak is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Heracross is the winner!"

I exhaled a deep breath. One down, five to go.

Skyler lingered on her choice a lot longer than I would've expected. "Starmie, go!"

That struck me as an odd choice. Her skarmory would've matched up rather well against my fighting/bug pokemon. Just that thought made me cautious. My opponent did not seem to be a person who would do things and then think them through later. Essentially, she the was the opposite of me.

Best to keep my distance for now. "Heracross, use stone edge!"

The stones flashed to life in their circles around my pokemon. With a flick of its wrists, Heracross sent them shooting across the field. Starmie's red gem turned blue and an ice beam blasted out. The attack swept over Heracross's stone edge and the frozen rocks fell harmlessly to the earth.

"Maybe distance isn't the key. Megahorn!"

"Thunderbolt!"

Heracross had just started flying at Starmie when the other pokemon's jewel erupted with lightning. The electric blast slammed into Heracross, encapsulating it in a yellow aura. The bug pokemon was undeterred. Heracross plowed right on through the thunderbolt until it rammed its glowing horn into Starmie.

"Heracross, return!" I shouted, trying to seize the advantage. "Go, Raichu!"

Skyler was on point though. "Starmie, return!" she called as Raichu suffered from the spikes. "Frosslass, go!"

I pursed my lips as Skyler's final pokemon was revealed. The ghost-type with the water droplet shaped head floated over the field. The arms that flared at the wrist and oddly enough, came out of the side of the head flowed behind it as it glided silently around. It wasn't enough that it was a ghost-type though, Frosslass was also an ice-type.

My instincts screamed for me to switch to Charizard. So instead I yelled, "Thunder!"

"Thunderbolt!" was the reply.

Suddenly I felt very good about myself. Sure the thunderbolt was able to block my own pokemon's electric attack but I knew I had made the right choice. A thunderbolt to Charizard would've been disastrous. Having Raichu on the field neutralized that attack and still didn't put my pokemon at risk for a super-effective attack. Well, at least that I would suspect from a froslass.

Skyler pointed upwards with a single finger. "Hail!"

With a weirdly echoing cry, Froslass drifted into the sky and raised its arms. Dark clouds raced in to cloak the sun. The temperature dropped rapidly. The first few pieces of hail weren't that big but they were still large enough to be visible. A thick fog rolled other the battlefield, opaque enough that it skewed my vision slightly.

"Rai!" Raichu bellowed angrily as stray hail pieces struck it.

"Weather doesn't scare us!" I declared. "Raichu, thunder!"

It wasn't until Froslass started moving that I realized that maybe I should have been scared of the weather. The ice- and ghost-type pokemon seemed to vanish and reappear at will all over the battlefield. Raichu exploded with thunder in the direction that Froslass appeared to be. The pokemon faded away before the lightning struck. Raichu adjusted its aim. This time the lightning only made it about halfway to the intended target. I had no idea if the hail did that or the fog. Either way, I didn't like it.

"Rai-chu! Rai rai chu!" Raichu was beyond furious. It seemingly couldn't hit its opponent. We switched to discharge which had a wider targeting area. Still we came up empty.

Across the field, Skyler had a smirk on her face. "Shadow ball!"

I never saw where the shadow ball was launched from. Raichu seemed to but not in time to dodge. The electric pokemon climbed back to its feet and tried to use thunder again. The result was the same. Froslass waited calmly for Raichu to finish before blasting it off its feet with an ice beam.

"Get out of there, Raichu!" I shouted. "Iron tail!"

Raichu managed to get its glowing tail between its body and the ice beam. With some effort it managed to deflect the ice attack aside and then charged. It leapt off the ground and swung for the fences. Froslass was already gone.

"RAI! RAICHU!"

I could completely understand my pokemon's frustration. There was apparently no way for us to even make contact with Froslass as long as its snow cloak ability was in play. Until we got rid of the hail there didn't appear to be anything we could do.

A memory percolated up from the back of my mind. It was my very first match in the tournament. Swampert was on the field and having issues with a ludicolo who was getting a speed boost from the rain. I had no way to remove the rain clouds so instead I had used an ice beam to turn the rain into snow.

But there was no way I could do that this time… or could I? Maybe not change the weather but use it to my advantage…

"Raichu, use thunder!" I barked out. "Aim for the snow clouds!"

Despite the peculiar order, Raichu didn't hesitate and unleashed its frustration.

"RAI-CHU!"

A huge lightning bolt stabbed into the thick clouds. Flashes of light were visible all throughout the entire storm cloud. In future replays, they were actually able to track the lightning as it passed throughout the cloud. Suddenly the entire cloud flashed with yellow light. Then all was still.

A massive blast of lightning shot back out of the cloud. So massive that it enveloped half the field. Specifically the half where Froslass was. I could just faintly hear the pokemon scream over the roll of the thunder that accompanied the lightning bolt. When the light from the strike faded it took the fog with it. Froslass hung limply in the air, charred and sizzling. Yellow sparks crackled around it.

"Now!" I shouted, breaking the silence that had hushed the stadium. "Iron tail!"

I'd never know for sure, but I suspected that somehow Raichu controlled the lightning as it passed through the cloud. I say this because Raichu was standing about as far away from where the lightning struck as possible while still being on the field. Now it was blazing across the blackened field. The pokemon spun and delivered a crushing blow with its silvery tail. Froslass was driven into the ground. When it tried to rise, yellow sparks reappeared and kept it from moving.

"Finish it!" I yelled although I didn't really have to. "Thunder!"

Raichu was already standing above Froslass. Literally above it, feet on the edge of the hole that the ice pokemon lay in. I caught just the faint hint of a cackle before Raichu blasted Froslass at point-blank range.

"Froslass is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Raichu is the winner!"

The last few pieces of hail fell before the clouds parted and gave us back the sun.

"Your turn, Ursaring!" Skyler called out.

"We're on a roll now buddy!" I declared, raising a fist. "Thunder!"

"Protect!"

Ursaring threw its hands up in front of its body. The blast of lightning smashed into the protective shield and sprayed off it at all directions.

"Now use crunch!"

I did a quick search of my memory and came to an important conclusion. "Keep your distance!" I advised. "Ursaring has to be in close proximity to attack! Use discharge!"

Raichu backpedaled across the field, occasionally blasting a web of blue lightning from its tail. My memory had served me well as Ursaring continued to advance despite having to push through fields of electricity. I could clearly remember the normal-typed pokemon using protect, ice punch and close combat on Sceptile to great effect. By calling for crunch, Skyler had given away its final attack and revealed a weakness.

What I didn't plan for was Ursaring's bulk.

"Ice punch!" Skyler changed tactics.

Ursaring simply forced its way though the latest discharge Raichu unleashed. The electric pokemon was so surprised that it failed to dodge the incoming attack. Raichu stumbled backwards from the impact. When its fall exposed its front to me, I could see that a chunk of ice now covered my pokemon's chest.

"Thunder!" I shouted. I hoped the burst of electricity would completely free the pokemon.

"Close combat!"

It might have been the ice. It might have been fatigue. Whatever it was, it slowed Raichu down enough that Ursaring was able to strike first. Three cross jabs had Raichu staggering. Ursaring reached down and grabbed my pokemon, then flipped it over and drove it back down to the ground with one big paw.

"Raichu is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Ursaring is the winner!"

"Hell of a job," I said to Raichu once it was back in its ball. "Hell of a job, buddy. You were great." I put the poke ball back on my belt and selected another. "Krookodile, let's go!"

Like I had previously, Skyler looked to build on momentum. "Ursaring, ice punch!"

Also like me previously, Skyler hadn't counted on something. I hadn't counted on Ursaring's massive defenses. She hadn't counted on Krookodile's speed.

"Brick break!"

Krookodile deftly slipped around Ursaring's ice punch and drove a glowing fist into Ursaring's gut. The big pokemon folded up. Krookodile jumped into the air and brought down another brick break atop Ursaring's head this time.

"Ursaring, return!" Skyler commanded. "Starmie, go!"

Now I had a conundrum on my hands. On one hand, Starmie's water-typing held an advantage over Krookodile's ground-typing. Their secondary types though, psychic and ground, went the opposite direction. There were pros, there were cons and there was what Skyler was probably hoping I would do.

So of course I did the opposite.

"Krookodile, use dig!"

"Ice beam!"

The ice attack swept over the area where Krookodile had been, capping the hole it had created with a chunk of ice. Krookodile blasted out of the ground beneath Starmie, throwing the pointed purple pokemon back. Starmie retaliated with a hydro pump but Krookodile was already back underground.

"Crunch!"

Krookodile launched itself out of the ground, gaping jaws first. My pokemon bit down with glowing fangs and Starmie let out a buzz of surprise. After a vicious shake Krookodile tossed the water pokemon aside. It surprisingly landed up on its points.

"Recover!"

"Oh no you don't!" I yelled but Starmie was already covered in a rainbow shimmer. "Stone edge!"

The healing shimmer was already fading by the time that the sharpened stones began slamming into Starmie. Like with most healing moves, there was a bit of hesitation for the recovering pokemon. That hesitation let stone edge hit for its full effect. The way Starmie went down made me think that it was probably almost right back to where it was health-wise before it had used recover.

On my orders, Krookodile bit down with crunch again. This time Starmie countered by spinning itself. The two star pieces of its body spun in opposite directions and forced Krookodile's jaws apart.

"Ice beam!"

This time Krookodile wasn't fast enough. The bolts of icy energy converged on Krookodile's chest and threw it back. The ice beam suddenly cut off and was replaced by a hydro pump. Krookodile managed to roll aside but was still hit by the water attack and tossed back again. The pokemon rolled through the crash-landing and came up on all fours. It looked like it had tried to come back up onto just its back two feet but its strength failed. Across the field, Starmie's red jewel was blinking.

The end was near and everyone knew it.

"Krookodile, stone edge!"

"Starmie, hydro pump!"

Stones shot one way, a blast of water the other. Somehow both attacks missed each other completely. Of all the times I had seen two attacks block one another, these two did not. Krookodile was blown off its feet. Starmie disappeared under a hail of rocks that shattered on impact.

There was a pregnant pause that went on way too long.

"Starmie and Krookodile are unable to battle!" the ref finally announced. "Both trainers are now down to three pokemon."

I didn't want the break. I was finally feeling like I had figured out Skyler's strategy and how to counter it. Sure I had lost two consecutive pokemon but I was feeling confident. Skyler's blaziken had to be exhausted and her ursaring had sustained a lot of damage too. Only her skarmory was unharmed.

Finally the break was ended. Since I had sent out the first pokemon, Skyler had to choice her pokemon first after the break. She selected Ursaring, much to my surprise. I countered with Heracross. There was no chance to dish out an order before Skyler recalled Ursaring and replaced it with Skarmory.

I had been expecting this and simply nodded. "Heracross, stone edge!"

This time Skyler wasn't expecting me to switch out. Instead she quickly countered with an air slash that defused the stone edge. In response, I had Heracross fly up to Skarmory's level. I wanted to remind my opponent that the air was no longer her domain.

Skyler was not phased in the least. "Steel wing!"

"Perfect," I said and allowed myself a slight grin. "Close combat!"

Heracross braced itself for impact. As soon as it felt the glowing silver wing, the bug pokemon wrapped its arms around the wing. With a hard flurry of wings Heracross wrenched the wing at an awkward angle to send Skarmory spiraling out of control. Seizing the opportunity, Heracross swung itself around and landed on Skarmory's back. Now in addition to trying to regain its bearings the steel pokemon had to deal with an additional one-hundred or so pounds of extra weight. Extra weight that was slamming powerful fists into its back. Skarmory let out a terrible screech as it tried to shake loose my pokemon. It did flips and rolls in the air but nothing seemed to work. Heracross continued to cling on and punch and kick.

"Use brave bird!" Skyler screamed.

Skarmory burst into flames. Its wings tucked in as it went into a steep dive. Being scorched by the flames, Heracross finally had to let go. The flying steel-type pokemon flew out of the flames in a blue aura. Then it did something I'd never seen before: it turned. I'd never seen a pokemon using brave bird turn. It wasn't a sharp turn but a wide, arcing turn. Skarmory needed the extra space available to it in this main arena to fully execute its turn and successfully did so. Heracross hadn't been expecting this either and was caught completely unawares. My pokemon dropped like a stone after Skarmory ran it through.

"Heracross is unable to battle!" the ref announced as sparks played over Skarmory in punishment for using brave bird. "Skarmory is the winner!"

I made the quickest pokemon change in my life. "Charizard, go! Use flamethrower!"

Skyler was raising her poke ball when the blast of fire slammed into Skarmory. Charizard lifted higher into the sky as it kept up the intensity and the flamethrower drove Skarmory right into the ground. Skyler tried to retrieve her pokemon but the laser of her poke ball couldn't penetrate the flames. I wanted to say something witty but I couldn't come up with anything.

"Skarmory is unable to battle!" the ref suddenly announced, surprising us all. "Charizard is the winner!"

Once Charizard stopped spitting fire I could see that the ref was right. Skarmory was burnt to a crisp. I hadn't expected it to go quite so quickly. Heracross had apparently done more damage to it than I thought.

Oh darn.

Skyler took her time before sending out her next pokemon. Ursaring was back out to play. I gave some consideration to switching to Sceptile, thinking that it should be fresh and ready to go by now. Then I realized that no one was going to be fresher than Charizard. The fire pokemon had only taken one hit so far.

But then I decided there was something to be said about payback. "Charizard, return. Go, Sceptile!"

Ursaring bared its claws, probably realizing just what I was thinking.

"Leaf blade!" I shouted.

Sceptile came flying across the field. As it swung its arm around, Ursaring used its protective shield again. Sceptile dug hard into the translucent wall created by Protect. It couldn't break it though and the blades slid past. The shield disappeared and Ursaring prepared to counterattack.

I had learned from last time though. "Iron tail!"

Continuing the forward motion it had from using leaf blade, Sceptile swung its big tail around. Ursaring had been going for an over-handed ice punch so the glowing tail went unencumbered into the normal-type pokemon's gut. It was lifted off its feet and thrown back like it was weightless.

"Energy ball!"

The green orb caught up with Ursaring in a flash. All the battling through Raichu's electric attacks had really seemed to wear down Ursaring. It was slow to get back up and even slower to react as Sceptile raced up with another leaf blade. A feeble attempt to fend my pokemon off using crunch was rebuffed with a second strike with the glowing leaf blades.

Ursaring toppled back over and the ref declared that, "Ursaring is unable to battle! Sceptile is the winner!"

I actually had recalled my pokemon before Skyler did hers. I knew what was coming and so did she. She had had me on the ropes in the early going but I had stormed back to take control.

The crowd buzzed for the end was near.

Blaziken and Charizard were both returned to the field. Blaziken looked better than I had expected. It stood at its full height without obvious sign of injury. Then I caught the subtle rising and falling of its shoulders when it breathed. The fighting-type fire pokemon was breathing heavily and trying to hide it. It was putting up a strong front in the face of a fresh adversary.

Despite this, there was no quit in Skyler. "Stone edge!"

"Block it with flamethrower!"

Charizard swept its head from side to side. The intense flames melted the incoming rocks into nothingness.

"Dragon claw!"

"Sky uppercut!"

Blaziken tried to beat Charizard to the punch, leaping into the air with its powerful legs. It might have been able to get into the air, but wings allowed Charizard to maneuver in the air. Blaziken's blow was a glancing one. My pokemon raked one set of glowing green claws across its opponent before Blaziken spun and deflected the next strike with another sky uppercut.

The other disadvantage to not being able to fly is that you have to come back down.

"Focus blast!"

A well-timed focus blast was waiting for Blaziken when it landed. The fighting-type attack exploded before the pokemon had time to set its feet and sent it flailing into the air. Charizard speared it out of the air with a flamethrower that smashed it back into the ground.

"Blaziken is unable to battle!" the ref decided. "Charizard is the winner and victory to the red trainer!"

Charizard let loose a mighty roar.

A roar of victory.


	58. Chapter 57

My reward for making it to the final eight was I got to face The Russian.

The Russian. That's what they were calling Zakhar Valchenkov, who was technically a Russian citizen. While watching tournament coverage I learned that while technically this tournament was only for Americans, Zakhar held dual citizenship so there was no reason to bar him from the tournament. I really wished they would have anyway.

Although I had tournament coverage and analysis going on in the background the whole time, I never paid attention to it unless they were talking about Zakhar or myself. I was still viewed as the unlikely underdog and a Cinderella story for the ages. The Russian, on the other hand, was one of the favorites to win the entire tournament. He wasn't _the_ favorite but Vegas had him listed with either the second or third best odds to win it all depending on the casino you went to.

What made The Russian such a favorite was his wide variety of pokemon he used. I though I had used a lot in my matches, having used thirteen. Zakhar had used over twenty and all of them battled at a high level. He showed no real type preference either so it was hard to even begin to predict what he might use against me. There were also several Fivers in his collection, three he had used and he hinted that he might have more in an interview. The only real pattern he displayed was his favoritism towards his absol. The dark-type pokemon with the scythe-like horn on the side of its face had made an appearance in four of his seven battles so far. But what worried me the most about this absol was how much its move sets were changing from match to match. It was one thing for a pokemon to learn a new move before a match. It was another to learn three. Zakhar was almost completely reworking his pokemon's moves before a match. That was practically unheard of as far as I could tell.

Needless to say, it was unsurprising when it was revealed that despite being only twenty-five Zakhar had competed and nearly won the Russian version of the League Tournament.

I completely shut myself off from Dylan and David as I attempted to prepare for Zakhar. Our match wasn't until the evening of the following day so I had roughly an entire day. I spent hours pouring over online pokemon databases to learn as much about the pokemon that Zakhar had shown already. I even read some Russian fanpages about him once I downloaded the proper add-on to my internet browser to let it translate from Russian.

The team I assembled to take into battle had to have lots of type coverage. I wanted to be prepared for anything I might see. Also to make sure I wasn't as predictable like I was in my previous match, I set about to change some of strategies. Along with strategy change came some tinkering with my pokemon's attacks. While I was working with Anomasnow, Fraxure was apparently doing some work for me and learned giga impact. I knew after that that my dragon-type pokemon must be fully evolved. Only fully evolved pokemon could learn giga impact.

When the next day finally came, I cut myself off from everyone and everything. I turned my phone off and never turned on the television. It made me feel like a bad friend since I hadn't talked to David or Dylan in a few days now. To be honest, I didn't even know if they were still in the tournament. I felt bad but at this point in the game I needed to be focused on myself. They surely understood as neither of them had tried to contact me either.

The sun had begun its descent as I walked onto the battlefield of the main stadium. We were the last match of the day and the crowd was really buzzing already. I realized why momentarily: Zakhar was already on the field. He was waiting for me over in the side area where trainers were supposed to meet before the matches.

"Hello there!" he called out in English that was heavily accented by his native Russian. "A pleasure to be meeting you."

I had to restrain from shaking my head as I shook his hand. Perched on his forehead were goggles. Like actually olden days pilots goggles. Paired with his black hair that stood straight up and a black vest he wore over a t-shirt, he reminded me of an anime character.

"Uh, nice to meet you too," I got out.

"You know, in Soviet Russian pokemon train you."

I just looked at him. "What?"

Amusement twinkled in his eyes. "You Americans. You love your jokes unless someone else is telling them to you. Maybe this is why your country is like Forever Alone?"

It took a moment to decipher what The Russian was saying. His English was pretty good but not quite right. Once everything processed, I figured it out: he had a love for internet memes.

"Yeah, sure," I said lamely. How was I supposed to answer these questions?

"I look forward to our battle," he continued, oblivious to my discomfort. "We shall put on a battle for the ages, yes?"

That was something I could get behind. "You got it."

We shook again and departed for our trainers boxes, Zakhar in the red box and me in the green. The event staff and their pokemon were just now clearing off the field having successfully restored it to pristine condition after its previous battle. With everything set, the referee directed our attention to the spinning color wheel on the video board. It landed on green and the color behind my side of the board grew brighter.

"Staraptor!" I called out. "Get us started!"

"Smeargle, go!"

Of all the pokemon I had prepared for, a smeargle was not one of them. Those big eyes rimmed in brown stared out at me from underneath the beret like formation on its head like they were mocking me. In one hand it held its tail near the end where it had essentially a green paintbrush. This was not good. With Smeargle's Sketch move it could learn literally almost any move a pokemon could have. There was literally no way to prepare for one.

The only thing I could do was attack and hope for the best. "Steel wing!"

The Russian smiled. "Shift gear!"

Smeargle waved its tail in front of itself. The image of two translucent green gears formed in front of it. They rotated around, their teeth fitting into one another, slowly at first and then quicker. With a flash they faded and the entirety of Smeargle flashed as well.

Staraptor wasn't intimidated. It flew right at Smeargle with its wings covered in a silver glow. Smeargle, however, was no longer there. Staraptor suddenly had no target and pulled up. It swiveled its head around and found Smeargle on the other side of the field, creating another image of the gears.

"Now use quiver dance!"

This time I at least knew what was happening as Smeargle began dancing around while vibrating at a great speed. Speed, special attack and special defense were all being increased. What I couldn't figure out was why. Zakhar had seeming already boosted speed and who knew what else with his shifting gears move. With two stat boosting moves, that didn't leave much room for attacks.

"Get in there Staraptor!" I shouted. "Close combat!"

"Spore!"

I had walked right into a trap.

A huge yellow cloud burst out from Smeargle. It was wafting slowing in the air but Staraptor had built up too much speed to turn away without first diving straight through. Staraptor's eyelids drooped down and the pokemon began plummeting to the ground. Crashing into the ground was enough to wake Staraptor back up. Suddenly I was pretty sure I had a good idea of what Smeargle's final move was.

"Baton toss!" Zakhar ordered.

A glow surrounded Smeargle. It rushed forward and coalesced itself into a small glowing rod. The rod dropped to the ground as Smeargle automatically converted back to energy and rushed back into its poke ball. All the stat upgrades it had given itself were now contained in that small rod.

"Boleslav!" Zakhar announced as he tossed another poke ball into the field.

I didn't know what the word he said meant. It was definitely something Russian. What I did know was that he had just sent his absol onto the field. It took a few steps forward and touched the glowing baton. There was a flash and all the energy, and more importantly all the stat changes, flowing up into the pokemon.

That was not good but I was pretty sure I'd been in worse situations. "Close combat!"

"Sucker punch!"

The absol was across the field in an instant, driving a clawed foot into Staraptor.

"Steel wing!"

With incredible speed the absol maneuvered around the silver wing before the scythe on the side of its face lit up purple and it drove a night slash across my pokemon. Staraptor crashed down hard. I took an involuntary step back. That absol was fast and strong, strong as hell.

"Psycho cut!" Zakhar yelled.

"Get out of there!"

Staraptor barely avoided the spinning light blue rings. They smashed into the ground and detonated where the pokemon had been just a fraction of a second before. Staraptor soared high into the sky until it was just barely visible.

It was all or nothing now. "Brave bird!"

Even as high as it was, I could see Staraptor erupt into flames as it went into a steep dive. The flames gave way to a blue aura as it honed in on the absol.

Zakhar didn't seem worried. "Night slash!"

The Russian's pokemon took one bounding leap and then launched itself into the sky. As Staraptor neared, the absol pulled its head back and swung the glowing scythe at my pokemon. The two attacks instantly exploded to hurl the two pokemon apart. Staraptor crashed to the ground in a heap while its opponent landed gracefully.

"Psycho cut!"

"Get out of there!"

The glowing rings slammed into my pokemon and toppled it backwards.

"Staraptor is unable to battle!" the ref announced.

"Shit," I muttered as I recalled my pokemon. Now I had a choice to make, one that could affect the entire rest of the battle. I could send out my big guns or try to whittle away enough health with another pokemon that Zakhar would be forced to change.

Whittling didn't seem like my style. "Charizard, go!"

This at least got an eyebrow twitch from the Russian. He either must have thought I wouldn't bring the fire pokemon or would save it for later. No matter what he thought, he didn't appear worried.

"Psycho cut!"

"Flamethrower!"

Charizard launched into the air before curving its neck down to spit fire. The psychic rings pounded into the flames in an attempt to force it back. Fire proved the stronger element, blowing apart each ring. The absol was forced to rush out of the way. A deep scorch mark now indicated where the pokemon had been.

Despite all the boosts he had heaped upon the pokemon, Zakhar had seen enough apparently. "Return! Go, Aggron!"

Now I had something to consider. The rock part of Aggron's typing could definitely give Charizard trouble and I might need the pokemon's immense strength later. Besides, I had just the pokemon for this. "Charizard, return! Go, Sandslash!"

Zakhar simply smiled. "Head smash!"

Aggron rocketed forward. It was now encased in a blue aura with the top of its head aimed right for Sandslash. This was going to be powerful and I had to assume this aggron had the ability of rock head to let it avoid recoil damage.

"Underground with dig!"

With a flurry of claws and dirt, my pokemon vanished beneath the field. Aggron smashed into the ground with tremendous force. As it rose back up to its full intimidating size I could see that I had been right about it not taking recoil damage.

I was about to find out it also had a few more tricks. "Magnet rise!"

A yellow glow swirled around Aggron's feet. It took a moment but slowly the rock- and steel-type pokemon floated off the ground to hover about a foot or so above it. Sandslash shot out of the ground right at Aggron's feet but its hovering let it easily avoid the ground-type attack. It would be able to avoid that and any other of that type for a while now.

It was starting to become clear why Zakhar Valchenkov was one of, if not the favorite to win the tournament.

"Autotomize!"

I tilted my head in fascination as a silver glow outlined the floating aggron. At first I thought I was just seeing things but then I realized that the pokemon actually was becoming smaller. Not just in height but its midsection was slimming as was its limbs and tail. Now in addition to being immune to ground-type moves, it was also fast.

"Floating, fast, whatever! Stone edge!"

Specks of light became rocks and rocks become projectile missiles. Aggron snapped back and around the stones. The first batch anyway. Sandslash had quickly forced a second stone edge to life as Aggron dodged the first. This second attack pounded into the bigger pokemon, driving it back.

"Head smash!"

Aggron came in much faster this time leaving Sandslash no time to burrow underground. It tried to leap away. The pokemon was marginally successful, avoiding the main impact of Aggron's head but still getting clipped by a powerful shoulder. Even a glancing blow was enough to throw my pokemon to the ground.

"You hid from one weakness, but you can't hide from them all. Focus blast!"

Sandslash rolled to its feet. It hefted the glowing orb above it head and hurled it. Aggron may have boosted speed but it had no chance to dodge a near point-blank attack. The fighting-type move was doubly super-effective and sent the aggron crashing to the ground.

"Aggron, return!" Zakhar ordered and I got my first good feeling about this match. Then he shouted, "Boleslava!"

At first I thought it was the same word he had shouted when he sent his absol out. His absol did appear again so maybe I had heard him wrong but I didn't think I did. I didn't have time to worry about a simple Russian word anyway.

"Focus blast!"

"Dodge and use night slash!"

A graceful leap took the absol right over the hurled orb. The scythe on the side of its face lit up purple as it swung it at Sandslash. Without all its power-ups, the dark-type attack was not nearly as devastating as it had been against Staraptor. Sandslash was shoved back but stayed on its feet.

"Slash!"

The slashing attack was met with another night slash. The discharge from the two attacks threw the two pokemon apart. I called for anther focus blast. This one came closer but was dodged again.

Zakhar shouted something that I didn't quite catch because of his accent. It almost sounded like he said something about Paris. His pokemon responded by crouching down on hits haunches and howling towards the sky. A black aura outlined the pokemon and the sky dimmed quickly to echo it. The darkness quickly faded.

"Return!" Zakhar ordered as he switched pokemon.

I wasn't paying attention to that. I was frozen in place as my brain replayed what The Russian had said before his pokemon had howled. The phrase went through my mind again and again, each time a little bit more of the Russian accent being filtered out until I was left with two words: perish song.

"Motherfucker!" I spat. "Sandslash, return!"

Sandslash needed off the field immediately. In a flash I had its poke ball in hand and aimed the laser at my pokemon. A black mass swirled to life in front of Sandslash and the laser bounced away to leave my pokemon still on the field. I lowered the ball in confusion. Then I saw the oddly shaped blue lump on the field. Four stubby legs held up a blob-like body. It had two undefined arms with one of them up above its squinted closed eyes in a salute. A small black tail that also seemed to have eyes on it peaked around the body.

"Motherfucker," I repeated. Zakhar had a Wobbuffet. A wobbuffet with the ability of shadow tag that prevented me from switching pokemon. Sandslash was now trapped on the field to wait out its fate of falling to perish song.

"Encore, Wobbuffet!" Zakhar ordered.

Wobbuffet lifted its arms above its head where a white ball of energy formed. It whipped its arms forward and hurled the ball at Sandslash. Sandslash tried to dodge but Wobbuffet used its psychic abilities to alter the direction of its orb and ran it into my pokemon. The white energy was absorbed into Sandslash to give it a shimmering aura.

I couldn't think of a worse curse than I had already used.

Not only was Sandslash trapped on the field but it was now forced to use the attack it had used last over and over. To top it all off, Sandslash had last used focus blast which was an attack that Wobbuffet was resistant to.

"Tickle!"

"No!" I roared. "No! No! NO! Focus blast!"

Like it had any choice, Sandslash hurled the orb of fighting-type energy. Wobbuffet's arms had been extending out in its attempt to lower Sandslash's attack strength. Now they snapped back to its body.

"Mirror coat!"

A shimmering silver aura washed over Wobbuffet. As the focus blast rammed into it Wobbuffet bent forward and then snapped back upright. The focus blast shot back out at Sandslash, now the same shimmering silver as Wobbuffet's mirror coat. It slammed into my pokemon and exploded, its fighting energy turned into psychic energy. As Sandslash dragged itself back up to its feet, the sky dimmed to black again. Time was running out for us.

I looked at my pokemon. I felt horrible about what it was going through. "I'm sorry Sandslash. We're stuck."

It nodded and buzzed a reply, clearly understanding.

I clenched a fist. "But I'll be DAMNED if we aren't going to go down fighting!"

Sandslash held up a matching fist of claws.

"That's the thing about mirror coat." I shifted my gaze to Zakhar. Then I ran it down to Wobbuffet. "The user has to sustain damage to send it back. Sandslash! Focus blast it straight to hell!"

Sandslash let out a snarl and extended its claws out to both sides, a focus blast hovering above both. It hurled the two and then lifted its claws above its head to form and throw a third. The mirror coat of Wobbuffet shimmered back to life. The three focus blasts impacted Wobbuffet, hunching it far over. When the pokemon snapped back up to full height, the three focus blast shot back in wide arcing trajectories. Sandslash dove away from the first. The second slammed into it from the side and the third from behind. I lost sight of my pokemon in the resulting explosions.

As the smoke was fading and the dust was settling, I saw a shadow rise up from the ground.

A light sparked to life in front of it and grew to a familiar size. There was a rush of movement and the focus blast ripped out of the fading smoke. Mirror coat reflected it right back. This time Sandslash was ready. It hurled another focus blast and detonated its own reflected attack before it could cause its originator any harm.

The sky went black once more. Time was running out.

"This is it, Sandslash!" I declared. I pointed at Wobbuffet. "Give it everything you've got! Focus blast!"

Sandslash lifted its claws the heavens.

Wobbuffet just stood there, waiting.

Above Sandslash claws, focus blasts formed. Not one. Not two

Five.

The five orbs hovered there until Sandslash threw its claws forward. All five focus blasts shot towards Wobbuffet. The psychic finally showed some emotion, squawking in alarm at the incoming attacks. The mirror coat shimmered back to life. As the five attacks converged, it actually looked like Wobbuffet might crumple.

"Wob-buffet!" it screamed.

The five focus blasts shot back out from Wobbuffet.

Sandslash spun past the first returned shot. It hopped over the second but that was all it could dodge. The third, fourth and fifth all pounded into my pokemon.

I assumed it was over until a pair of long claws emerged from the roiling explosion. They dug into the ground and with an effort pulled a battered and charred body of Sandslash out. With a Herculean effort, the ground-type climbed back up to its feet. Wobbuffet and Zakhar looked a tad bit worried now.

The sky went black.

Sandslash's eyes rolled back up into its head. The pokemon crumpled where it stood.

"Sandslash is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Wobbuffet is the winner!"

"Sandslash, I'm sorry," I said to the pokemon through its poke ball. "I'm so, so sorry. Thanks for everything. We'll win this one for you."

I placed the ball back on my belt and selected another. I was about to throw it into the ring when I realized something. In a smooth motion, I brought my hand back down to my belt to switch poke balls.

"You." I pointed at Wobbuffet. "Behold! The Shadow King!"

I got no reaction from the psychic pokemon. The crowd, on the other hand, loved my introduction of Gengar.

"You have a ghost. It is no big deal," Zakhar said with a dismissive shrug.

"It's about to be," I muttered under my breath. If his wobbuffet had mirror coat, I was willing to bet it also had counter to deal with physical attacks. "Gengar, use shadow punch!"

Zakhar hesitated slightly as the two shadowy images of fists shot towards his pokemon as he tried to remember what type of attack it was. "Counter!"

An orange power outlined Wobbuffet. It bent backwards as the two shadow punches did their damage. The pokemon snapped back forwards and the fists shot back at Gengar, now orange. Shot back and right through Gengar.

Now I offered Zakhar a smile. "Oops. Gengar is immune to fighting-type moves. Shadow punch again!"

Although Gengar hadn't seen what had happened to Sandslash, the ghost pokemon clearly picked up on the tension in the match. Instead of just throwing one or two punches, Gengar's stubby little arms were working like pistons hurling shadow punch after shadow punch.

Counter cloaked Wobbuffet. The psychic pokemon was pressed down further and further as the punches piled up against its counter until there was a mighty explosion. Orange and purple energy swirled together and the vortex disappeared into the sky leaving a prone wobbuffet on the ground.

"Wobbuffet is the unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Gengar is the winner!"

Zakhar offered me a begrudging nod after recalling his poke ball. I had found the one weakness in his wobbuffet tactic and exploited it to its fullest. However he was still in the driver's seat for this match. He still had two more pokemon that I hadn't even seen yet. That was as many as I'd lost.

"Return to the field, Smeargle! Use quiver dance!"

"Not this time! Gengar, use dark pulse!"

Smeargle was already vibrating and swaying around by the time the dark pulse slammed into it. The detonation drove it back. Gengar swooped across the field after it. Another quiver dance was started before Gengar could interrupt that one with another dark pulse.

"Baton pass!" Zakhar ordered once he realized Gengar was too fast to keep trying to boost his stats and then shouted something that I didn't understand as he heaved a poke ball into the air with an underhanded toss. The word he had said was something that started with a 'Z' but I had never heard it before. When an abomasnow appeared on the field, I assumed that it was just the name of his pokemon. Zakhar almost seemed surprised to see the pokemon but recovered quickly as it picked up the glowing baton Smeargle had left behind..

Gengar turned to me and tried to communicate something. I didn't have time to decipher the words as Zakhar shouted, "Dark pulse!"

"Dodge it!"

Gengar shot skyward as the abomasnow blasted out the beam of black rings. Something about that whole sequence seemed off but I couldn't put my finger on it. I know my abomasnow didn't know dark pulse but that didn't mean it wasn't possible for one to learn it.

"Gengar! Gen!"

I looked up to see my pokemon drifting down gently. Almost like a snowflake.

Snowflakes: that's what was wrong with this whole scene.

An abomasnow should've brought a snowstorm with it the second it entered battle. The sky was still clear and the moon was just now visible over the lip of the stadium. That's what Gengar had been trying to tell me. Whatever this pokemon was, it wasn't an abomasnow.

"Let's find out what this thing really is! Dark pulse!"

Once I saw the mystery pokemon move, I knew with complete certainty that it wasn't an abomasnow. No abomasnow was that fast. It raced away from the dark pulse and fired one back in return. Gengar spiraled around it and closed the gap.

"Shadow punch!"

The image of the fist hit the mystery pokemon right in the chest but barely seemed to faze it. Then everything began to shimmer and swirl. The abomasnow gave way to a pokemon I had never seen before. Its slender body was covered in black fur. A huge red mane tipped in black rode down its back and was bound together by a teal bead. Sharp claws were the same color red that lined its eyes. Its face actually kind of reminded me of a ninetales except pointy and sleeker with the ears pulled back. That was when I realized that word I hadn't understood earlier wasn't Russian, it was the name of this pokemon.

"Ah, so you've uncovered my zoroark," Zakhar said with a grin. "But now what will you do?"

"What will I do now? That's the easy part. Dark pulse!"

Zoroark lifted its arms to reveal a swirl of dark rings. It blasted its own dark pulse out to deflect Gengar's identical blast. The two dark-type attacks knocked each other off target and both beams slammed into the ground and detonated.

"Gengar, return!" That zoroark was flinging around that dark pulse with ease and I didn't much care for that. It was time for a change. "You want to pretend to be an abomasnow? Let's see how you deal with the real thing!"

"Pursuit!"

Zoroark slashed a claw through the air. A wave of purple energy flashed into existence and was aimed right for Gengar. It hit my pokemon just as the laser from the poke ball did. The impact was so strong that I felt it through the poke ball, almost dropping it.

A cold wind swept across the field. Abomasnow stomped into being, arms crossed angrily across its chest. The temperature continued to drop. Zoroark hissed as pieces of hail pelted against its black fur. It wouldn't hurt a lot but the way things were going, I'd take whatever I could get.

The corners of Zakhar's mouth twitched. "Focus blast!"

"Block it with energy ball!"

As the two attacks defused one another, I tried to get a better handle on what kind of pokemon I was dealing with. So far it had used two dark-type attacks and one fighting-type. Unfortunately that didn't give me any real clues as the two pokemon exchanged attacks again. All three attacks Zoroark had used were able to be learned by a large number of pokemon of all types.

I decided to get close up and see what happened. "Wood hammer!"

What happened was that Zoroark was significantly faster than Abomasnow. Every time my pokemon swung a glowing fist it came up empty or punched a hole into the ground. I hadn't thought that Smeargle had been successful when using quiver dance and passing it along but I had apparently been wrong.

"Hold!"

Despite the peculiar order, Zoroark froze in place. Abomasnow was already on the attack and didn't alter course. It drove a wood hammer into the other pokemon's chest to knock it to the ground. The big grass- and ice-type pokemon quickly closed the gap for a second attack.

"Flamethrower!"

It didn't register until the river of fire had blasted Abomasnow off its feet that I had been baited. Zakhar had let Abomasnow get in close to ensure a doubly super-effective flamethrower hit for maximum power. Coupled with the power boosts from quiver dance, I was a little surprised that Abomasnow survived the attack.

"Aboma…snow," my pokemon mutter as it climbed back to its feet.

We were running out of time. "Blizzard!"

The purple eyes snapped open wide.

The fur from around its mouth parted and Abomasnow threw its arms forward. A typhoon blast of ice and wind slammed into Zoroark. The gale force winds pounded Zoroark back bit by bit, its feet dragging trenches along the field. When the storm had finally passed, the field around Zoroark was coated in ice shards all pointing towards Zakhar. Zoroark itself had a thick layer of ice along the arms it had tried to shield itself with and one leg was coated with frost.

"Flamethrower! Burn the ice away!"

Leaving its arms in front of its body, Zoroark unleashed its flamethrower. The ice quickly dissolved into water vapor. Still weak from the previous flamethrower, Abomasnow didn't possess the foot speed to get away from this one. It smashed into my pokemon and it toppled backwards.

The hailstorm faded.

I didn't need the ref to tell me I had lost another pokemon.

I still wasn't sure exactly what Zoroark was. Some weird dark/fire type? I might never know. What was more important though was that I knew what it could do. I needed a win here and I needed it fast. There were two options here and I went with the more unexpected one once the mandatory respite had passed.

"Fraxure, go!"

Zakhar was now in the opposite position I had been in. It was known that Fraxure was a dragon-type. It was also well known that dragons were able to master attacks from a vast array of types. My dragon pokemon could be ready to unleash just about anything.

I figured I'd start him off with an easy one. "Dragon dance!"

Fraxure threw its hands into the air and began to swing them down in a circle. As it completed the circle it was going to be a race to see if it could pull its elbows in and unleash the purple flames of power before it got hit by Zoroark's incoming dark pulse. There was a flash of purple and Fraxure dove out of the way.

"Dragon pulse!"

"Focus blast!"

Even with enhanced speed, Fraxure was still slower than Zoroark.

The focus blast and dragon pulse forced each other to explode and I briefly lost sight of my opponent and his pokemon. Zoroark burst through the explosion, flames swirling all around it. It blasted my pokemon with a dark pulse that sent it skipping across the field.

"Get up Fraxure! Giga impact!"

The dragon pokemon rolled back to its feet and then launched itself. A cocoon of purple energy encased it. Streams of yellow energy spiraled around it as it closed in on Zoroark. The opposing pokemon unleashed a flamethrower. The fire slowed Fraxure down but with a roar it pushed through and slammed into its fellow Fiver. There was a mighty explosion that enveloped the two pokemon.

"Focus blast!"

My eyes got huge. There was no way that Zoroark should've been able to attack, let alone so quickly. Sure enough though, I saw the light blue glow of a focus blast and then saw it slam into my pokemon who was briefly paralyzed from the effects of using giga impact.

"Fraxure!" I was concerned now. The pokemon had absorbed a lot of damage and done so in a hurry. "Are you ok?"

"Not for long." Zakhar smiled. "Dark pulse!"

Fraxure had just shaken its paralysis when the beam of black rings slammed into it. Sailing across the field, the pokemon crashed down hard. It lay on its back, motionless.

The ref was already moving for a better look. Moving to declare my pokemon out.

One red claw slowly raised up into the air.

With a great effort, Fraxure rolled over onto its stomach. At first I thought it wouldn't have the strength to get back to two feet and stay down on all fours. In a herky-jerky motion the dragon rose back up to its full height. The black eyes with the red irises stared at Zoroark with pure hate. Fraxure gently caressed the red tip of one of its tusks as it took a hesitant step forward. It seemed to be trying to communicate to its opponent what it had in mind for it.

Then the pokemon exploded in white light.

I was as surprised as everyone else when Fraxure began to evolve.

The armored cowl on its neck suddenly jutted out a second plate of armor and then another and another. Armor now ran from the tip of the dragon's head all the way down its tail and the streamlining arms and legs. Instead of getting longer, the tusks got wider. They were now curved blades with one point just past the pokemon's mouth and the other behind its head. Speaking of the head, it lifted off the shoulders as the neck and the armor that covered it expanded up. As the light started to fade, the armor that had come from the green cowl was now a dark yellow. The wicked looking claws on the hands and feet were the same crimson color as the edges of the tusks that now looked more like battle axes.

"Haxorus!" it roared.

"Well I'll be damned!" I crossed my arms over my chest and laughed. "Here I thought you were fully evolved already. You showed me."

Across the field, The Russian looked slightly unnerved by this latest development.

The dragon pokemon roared again. "Hax-orus!"

"Ok, Haxorus!" I took the pokemon's cue to get things moving. "Dragon claw!"

Zoroark wasn't as stunned as its trainer though. It leapt aside but through evolution, my pokemon had closed the speed gap dramatically. A quick pivot and Haxorus turned and dragged its turquoise glowing claws across Zoroark. The other pokemon howled and stumbled back.

"Dragon pulse!"

Zakhar finally snapped to his senses. "Block it with focus blast!"

The two orbs blew each other apart.

"Giga impact!"

Haxorus ripped through the explosion. Fire mingled with the energies swirling around it. It slammed into Zoroark with tremendous force, enough so that the resulting explosion blew the pokemon right into the side wall of the arena.

"Zoroark is unable to battle!" the ref declared once he got over there. "Haxorus is the winner!"

I gave a sigh of relief and took the opportunity to mop the sweat off my face. The odds had even a bit to four-on-three. Although when you considered the fact that Zakhar's smeargle couldn't actually attack, it was essentially an even battle.

"Smeargle, go!"

It was déjà vu all over again.

Haxorus raced around the field doing everything it could to interrupt Smeargle from using shift gear and quiver dance. Even if the moves were interrupted halfway through, there would still be somewhat of a stat boost to pass onto whatever pokemon Zakhar sent out next. Smearlge was getting ready to drop the baton.

A thought struck me: who said the next pokemon had to pick it up?

I would wager that it would do nothing or even be detrimental if one of my own pokemon tried to pick it up. But who said I had to let one of Zakhar's?

"Haxorus, return!" Smeargle hadn't even dropped its baton yet. I went into the full windup as I hurled the next poke ball. "Charizard!"

My aim was pretty good and Charizard centered itself. The glowing baton that Smeargle had dropped was now right in between Charizard's feet. The absol that had appeared on the field had a confused look. Zakhar had an expression that echoed the same sentiment.

"You want it?" I raised a hand, beckoning him closer. "Come and get it!"

Charizard let out a bone-rattling roar to emphasize my point.

The Russian nodded, accepting my challenge. "Night slash!"

"Block it with dragon claw!"

Without all its powerups the absol was still strong but Charizard was stronger. The two attacks struggled against each other for just a moment before my pokemon overwhelmed its opponent. The dark-type pokemon tried circling around and coming in from behind. Charizard was up to the task. It spun and met the attack, deflecting this one as well.

"Boleslav!" The Russian yelled. "Swords dance!"

Now something wasn't right. If my memory had served me correctly, his absol had already displayed four different attacks. It hadn't evolved or done anything to indicate that it had learned a new attack. How in the world was his pokemon using more than four attacks?

Then it hit me. "You son of a bitch…"

The two words I'd heard him yell, boleslav and boleslava.

They weren't Russian words.

They were Russian _names_.

Zakhar had two absols.

"Psycho cut!"

"Block it with flamethrower!"

The light blue rings dug into the flamethrower and the two attacks exploded. Boleslav dove through the explosion and hurled a second psycho cut. Except Charizard wasn't there. Having expected something like this, I had indicated for my pokemon to abandon its post. Now it stood a few yards to the left of where it had been guarding the baton.

"Flare blitz!"

Charizard burst into flames as it charged Boleslav. It slammed into the pokemon with amazing force, the explosion ejecting the absol from the field. If there was one downside to an absol, it was its defense.

"Focus blast!"

Charizard's wings unfurled to their full span and the pokemon lifted off the ground as it reared back to throw the focus blast. The absol hadn't even landed when the super-effective attack caught up with it and exploded. For good measure, Charizard sent in a second one.

"Boleslav is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Charizard is the winner!"

Now things were getting interesting.

"Aggron, go! Head smash!"

Cloaked in a bluish-white aura, the big steel-type flew at Charizard.

"Flare blitz!"

Red flames slammed into blue energy. The two pokemon roared at each other from beneath their covers. Streaks of lightning began to erupt, scorching the field. A white light began to grow out of the contact point of the two attacks. It continued to grow until the entire field exploded. Literally the entire field. White light shot to the heavens and threw anyone near the field to the ground.

"Charizard!" I called, shielding my eyes. "Are you ok?"

I could hear Zakhar calling out in Russian, presumably asking his pokemon the same.

The light was replaced by smoke and steam from the scorched battlefield. Remarkably, both Charizard and Aggron were still standing. Red sparks played over my pokemon and it staggered to one side. With its rock head ability, Aggron had no recoil damage to deal with. There was no way to tell who had gotten the worst of that exchange.

Only one thing to do about that. "Focus blast!"

Zakhar had ordered his pokemon to use its weird move where it seemed to shrink in size and weight to gain speed. The order hadn't come soon enough. The focus blast exploded against Aggron's decreasing flank. The pokemon roared in pain as it tipped backwards.

"Flamethrower!"

"Head smash!"

Less damaged than I had though, Aggron plowed right through the flamethrower. Charizard had no chance to dodge. The force of the hit slammed my pokemon back to the ground. It let out a low groan.

"Come on, Charizard! You've never lost before so don't start now!"

Charizard responded by reaching out with a claw. It reached for me as it rolled over onto its stomach. The pokemon dug its claws into the ground and dragged itself forward inch by inch. Those mighty wings dragged like they were nothing but excess skin behind it.

"I have seen this one before," Zakhar said. "Given time, your pokemon will regain its feet and come back with one final flurry. Not this time. Head smash!"

As Aggron was cloaked in blue energy, I screamed, "Fly away, Charizard!"

The wings that had seconds ago appeared worthless snapped to their full extension. Charizard was suddenly no longer there, shooting in the sky with its tail flame leaving a streak in the sky. Aggron stood from where it had just smashed into the ground. Its blue eyes tracked my pokemon.

"Head smash!"

Aggron crouched down and then as the blue energy enveloped it, it shot into the sky.

"Charizard, flamethrower!"

Charizard turned in midair and unleashed a roar that I felt as much as heard.

The flames of Charizard's tail were now dancing wildly. Long strands of flames whipped and twirled everywhere. It was almost like a fiery pinwheel. Turning its head to the side and then flicking it forward, Charizard unleashed easily the biggest flamethrower I had ever seen it produce.

To its credit, as the fires washed over Aggron, it kept advancing for a moment. Then the intensity of the fire attack stopped power of head smash and drove the big steel pokemon back into the earth. It buried the Russian's pokemon in a big crater that continued to glow hot long after the flamethrower was extinguished.

"Aggron is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Charizard is the winner!"

A breath I hadn't been realizing I was holding escaped. All that remained of The Russian's team was one of his absol and his smeargle, the latter of which he returned to the field.

I knew what his strategy might be- no, _must_ be- so I swapped my exhausted Charizard for Gengar. Although ghost-type moves wouldn't do a thing against the normal-typed Smeargle, it was Gengar's speed that I needed. Dark pulse could still do some damage and hopefully enough of it quick enough that Smeargle wouldn't have a chance to use baton toss.

"Smeargle, gear shift!"

"Dark pulse!"

The dance had begun.

Gengar chased the smeargle around the field, firing its dark-type attack whenever the opponent tried to use one of its stat boosting moves. At first we were achieving moderate success. Once one of the shift gears was completing, things began to change. Able to put more space between it and its opponent and do it quicker, Zakhar and Smeargle switched to Quiver dance to raise special attack and defense along with speed. Eventually the pokemon's speed peaked but Zakhar kept shouting for the same move to be used.

It didn't take a genius to see that he was trying to tire out Gengar. "Hold up there, Gengar! Stop chasing Smeagle and just keep using dark pulse from where you are!"

Zakhar knew the jig was up. "Baton pass!"

I saw my opening. "Hypnosis!"

Smeargle lifted a hand to push all its stat enhancements into that baton. The opaque image of Gengar's eyes ran through the normal-typed pokemon. It began staggering around as it tried desperately to fight off the oncoming sleep.

"Come on you bastard," I muttered. "Go to sleep!"

With a lunge forward, Smeargle began to fall to the ground. At the very last second, its arm flicked out. The baton had been formed.

"Get over there Gengar!" I shouted as Zakhar's second absol was forming on the field. "Don't let it get the baton!"

Gengar was just too far away. The absol touched the baton and all the enhancement flowed up into the pokemon. That power along with a type disadvantage was going to be too much for Gengar and I made a quick switch to Haxorus.

"Boleslava, use perish song!" Zakhar ordered.

The absol sat back on its haunches and howled to the sky. That horrible darkness that I remembered so well enveloped the atmosphere. The Russian must have assumed that Haxorus was my freshest pokemon and was planning on removing it from the field for however brief a moment.

"Swagger!"

Boleslava became outline in red. It fixed my pokemon with a stare as its eyes filled in with red, tilting its head to one side. Suddenly Haxorus roared. It flexed its muscles as power surged through them but also began turning in unpredictable directions.

"Fight through the confusion!" I yelled. "Use dragon claw!"

Haxorus' claws lit up and it slashed them down. The pokemon wasn't even looking in the direction of its opponent.

"Psych up!"

I wasn't quite sure what Zakhar's game was as his absol slipped into a trance-like state. Its eyelids fluttered and then its muscles bulged as it copied the attack boost that it had just given my pokemon. I wasn't sure of the point though. The absol had to have maxed out its attack stats by now.

Meanwhile, Haxorus fired a dragon pulse that didn't even land in the arena.

The sky went black.

That was when I realized what my opponent was up to. With perish song in play, he only had a limited time left before he had to remove his own pokemon from the field. With his smeargle asleep, he would have no way of replicating the power boosts he had bestowed on his absol.

"Night slash!"

"Snap out of it Haxorus! Dragon claw!"

Haxorus at least managed to get facing the correct direction before Boleslava ripped its glowing scythe across its flank. The impact was even more devastating that I had imagined. My dragon flew backwards like a rag doll. At least it snapped out of its confusion.

"Giga impact!"

"Night slash!"

The two attacks clashed in the center of the field. At first the exchange seemed even. The sheer power of giga impact seemed to have leveled the playing field. Or so it had seemed. With a sudden extra push, Boleslava used its scythe to throw my pokemon to the side and to the ground.

"Haxorus, return! Gengar, go!"

It was a desperation move and I knew it. Haxorus was getting beat up badly by the absol. I knew Gengar wouldn't be able to do any damage to the pokemon but I had high hopes that it could use it speed to stall long enough for the perish song to force Zakhar to recall his pokemon.

I was wrong.

Boleslava the absol had gained some serious speed enhancements along the way. Gengar danced all over the field, often just avoiding the night slash that would spell its doom by mere millimeters. The only thing that saved Gengar from certain defeat was the blackening of the sky for the second time. Zakhar couldn't risk losing his absol and had to switch back to his sleeping smeargle.

A quick switch was his plan. Not mine. "Dream eater!"

The hazy version of Gengar swept right through the snoozing Smeargle. The sleeping pokemon was flipped over from its stomach to its back and a portion of its energy stolen before Zakhar could get it back off the field.

I was now firmly seated in the driver's seat for this match.

"Gengar, return. Go, Haxorus! Giga impact!"

"Night slash!"

This time the results of the impact were drastically different. The two pokemon slammed into each other again but this time my pokemon won the exchange, plowing right through Boleslava.

During its moment of paralysis, Haxorus was hit with swagger again and then Boleslava copied the stat enhancement with psych up again. I had to hand it to Zakhar, he really knew how to utilize his pokemon's abilities to their fullest.

"Confusion? Ain't nobody got time for that!" I declared and recalled my pokemon. A small smile tugged at the corners of Zakhar's mouth as he enjoyed my reference to an internet video. "Charizard, finish the job!"

Knowing that my pokemon had been through hell already, Zakhar ordered his pokemon to charge. A quick, decisive strike just might finish off Charizard.

Charizard had other ideas. It simply clobbered Boleslava in the side of the head with a focus blast when it got close enough.

As Boleslava struggled to get back to its feet, I switched back to Haxorus again.

"Dragon pulse!"

The absol disappeared in the purple-tinged explosion.

To my surprise, Boleslava rushed back out of the explosion. The scythe on its face glowed the familiar purple and it raked it across Haxorus. For no apparent reason, the night slash seemed extra strong, possibly a critical hit, and knocked Haxorus to the ground.

"Dragon pulse!"

The long neck of my pokemon snapped forward. Boleslava was caught flat-footed, in mid-charge. The purple orb detonated right in the absol's face.

"Absol-, er, Boleslava is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Haxorus is the winner!"

Time seemed to stretch as I waited for Zakhar to send out his final pokemon. The ref finally had to call out to him. The Russian just shook his head. His smeargle was asleep and knew no moves that could cause damage. Victory was impossible.

The ref nodded and accepted this, knowing that although it was the hard choice, it was also the correct one. "Victory to the green trainer!"

Although I felt like jumping for joy, I managed to reign myself in. I had to try to look like I thought I belonged. Calmly, I collected my pokemon and caught up with The Russian on the side of the field.

"That was some battle," I said to break the ice.

"You are very good," he complimented. "You were first to discover my absol twins."

"Twins?"

He nodded. "Boleslav and Boleslava. Brother and sister. I raised them from eggs."

That didn't surprise me and I said as much. "I think some day I'd like a rematch."

The Russian smiled. "Perhaps you come to my country. Maybe I can win there. It will be like reverse _Rocky Four_, yes?"

I cracked up.

We shook hands. I went to pull away but Zakhar held on for an extra beat. He pulled me closer and said, "You are young but you are destined for great things. But on the path to greatness, sometimes you must go off the path. Remember that when times are tough. Farewell, comrade."

He gave my hand one final pump and turned away.

I didn't have more than a second to consider his words. Reporters and cameramen flooded in around me. The surge of humanity caught me off balance and it took me a moment to regain my composure. It took even longer for me to decipher what they were asking.

"So any thoughts on your next opponent?"

I raised up my hands. "Hey, you've got to take it one day at a time here. I can't be looking ahead. If I had been looking ahead, I would've never beaten Zakhar. I was lucky to get past him as it was."

Despite my efforts to talk about the battle of the present, the reporters wanted to talk about the future. "How are you going to prepare for this battle? Can you prepare for it?"

"Ok, hold on." I pointed a finger at the reporter who had asked the question. "I have devoted all my energy on figuring out how to defeat the opponent I faced today. There was no time for me to even be _thinking _about what may be in the future. I don't know why it-" My voice trailed off.

Things began to fall into place. There was only one reason they would be asking these questions.

I drifted out of the crowd of reporters. It wasn't hard to find my next opponent. He was standing in the sparsely populated trainers' area in the stands. I met his icy blue gaze. He offered me a nod and I returned it.

For a spot in the Pokemon League Tournament Finals, I would be facing someone I knew well.

David held my gaze for another beat and then turned and exited the stands.

*Author's note*

Special thanks to longtime reader AbsolBreeder for creating the character of Zakhar Volchenkov and his team for me.


	59. Chapter 58

Trying to prepare to face David was completely different than anything else I had done so far in the Tournament.

With others, there was always that unknown variable. It could be a pokemon they hadn't shown yet or a technique they hadn't put to use. With David, it was the opposite. I knew all of his pokemon and could even list off the names he had given them. I knew his tendencies and his preferences. I even knew why he had never evolved his wartortle into a blastoise (he just like wartortles better). At least I wouldn't have to spend time researching him.

But knowing all this, David had to know that I knew. The question really was though, did he know that I knew that he knew? Or did he know that I knew that he knew that I knew that he knew? It was honestly a question that could be extrapolated out to infinity. It left me with two choices: don't change my move sets or tactics and hope he expects otherwise or radically alter my strategies in hopes that he expects the former.

There wasn't really a right or wrong answer so I decided to go somewhere in the middle.

David and I were the first of the two matches tomorrow which gave us both around twenty hours to do any last minute training and get some sleep. One of those was going to be much easier than the other.

On my way out of the arena, I was stopped by an event worker who lead me to an office on the upper floor. At first I thought I was somehow in trouble but they just wanted to upgrade my pass card. Now I could swipe it at the security doors on Rock Field Two and Water Field Three and gain entry. They subtlety hinted to me that since I would be the only one able to access these fields, it might be a good place to train in solitude. The other three remaining competitors had also been given access to some of the fields but none of the same ones.

After a quick hustle back to my hotel room to gather up the rest of my pokemon, I strode onto the rock field. It had a different atmosphere when there was no one in the stands. The quiet of it was almost disconcerting.

That quiet was shattered by the popping of poke balls as I released all the pokemon I'd brought with me at once. Once everyone was present and calm, I explained the situation. I told them how we were going to face David for a chance to go to the Finals. I made sure they knew we'd be up against someone who knew us well and that I would need their help both in training and in battle.

I decided to heed the works that The Russian had given me and go off the beaten path a little.

Well into the night I tinkered with my pokemon's move sets. Some of my pokemon, Gengar for example, had been reliant on a certain strategy essentially since I had captured them. Those were the pokemon I spent the most amount of time with. As time passed, I began to narrow down my team until I was focusing on the six I planned to use against David.

Once I had them narrowed down, I began focusing on strategy. David's two most powerful pokemon were his wartortle and his primeape. I had to be ready and able to do heavy damage to both of them. Being able to hurt water-types wasn't a problem since Sceptile was a staple of my team but a fighting-type would prove to be a little more difficult. I eventually concluded that as long as I could inflict damage without it being reduced due to typing, I wouldn't need to teach my pokemon many super-effective attacks.

Friday had long since turned into Saturday by the time I finally staggered back to the hotel for some sleep. I managed about six hours of sleep, only about four of it really good sleep. It would have to do though.

I avoided the internet and television as I got ready and scarfed down the last remaining scraps of the continental breakfast the hotel provided. My only focus needed to be on David. The last thing I needed was to do was find out who the trainers in the other match were. Once I knew that, whether I wanted it to or not, my brain would start devising a team to combat whichever one I thought might win.

The rest of the afternoon was spent imagining scenarios I might encounter against David and how best to defeat them.

That, and being scared shitless.

I had managed to convince everyone that I was handling things well so far but the truth was that I was nervous as could be. Every now and again, I would catch my hand trembling and would have to force it still. I wasn't sure if it was the match itself that was making me nervous of the fact that the last news broadcast I had seen two days ago had said that possibly due to the most rookie trainers advancing as far as they had, the networks were seeing record-setting ratings numbers.

It was a little after four when I finally headed for the stadium.

Along the way, numerous people waved to me and hollered well wishes. Some actually even stopped to shake my hand. One little girl even asked for an autograph. I thought that seemed like a little much but I still signed her official League Tournament program guide.

The locker room was ready and waiting for me. Whoever else was entering from the red side hadn't arrived yet so I had the run of the place. After convincing myself not to throw up, I checked my appearance the mirror. My hair was gelled, glasses were smudge free and I hadn't missed any whiskers when I shaved that morning. I almost put my hat on anyway. It had been with me since the beginning and was probably lucky. I settled for sticking it into one of the big pockets in my cargo shorts with the bill protruding.

After one last check for stray nose hairs, I headed out to the field.

It was ten minutes before the scheduled start time for the match and the arena was already packed full of people. A cheer started behind me from the people who were sitting just above my entrance. The cheering grew louder as it spread through the rest of the arena as more people noticed me. Then it got even louder as David emerged from the other entrance.

Up on the video board there was a video montage of some of David and my better moments from the tournament. I tried to keep an eye on it since I hadn't gotten to see David battle all that much. The clips were too short to really learn anything but seeing that he had used all his pokemon so far was good to know.

He caught my eye and nodded his head towards the side area of the battlefield.

When our paths finally met, there was a moment of awkward silence. We each tried to figure out what to do with our hands without trying to make it look like that's what we were doing as we knew the cameras were watching. Finally I settled on crossing mine over my chest and David shoved his in his pockets.

"So," I finally said. "Fancy meeting you here."

He barked a laugh. "Yeah, imagine that."

"Seriously though, did you ever think we'd be here?"

There was a moment's hesitation on David's part. "Truth be told, there were times in that canyon I wasn't sure we'd even see the next day. Once we got out of there… yeah, I guess so." He offered up a shrug. "Maybe not quite so soon though. I would've figured maybe in another couple years. Not that I'm complaining though."

We chatted for another few moments about inconsequential things before a staffer approached us and asked us to head to our designated areas. I held out my hand and David gave it a firm shake.

"Good luck out there," I said. "You'll need it."

A huge grin spread across David's face. "Funny, I was going to say the same thing to you."

When I got back to the red trainer's box, I noticed that a man had moved to the center of the battlefield. He wore a dark suit that had to be sweltering in this heat. His hair was mostly a silvery gray now but looked like it had probably been black at some point. In one hand he held a note card and in the other a microphone. I knew him instantly even before he lifted the microphone.

I'd know Bruce Buffer, legendary UFC announcer anywhere.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we… are… live!"

The crowd went ballistic.

"In the City by the Bay for the Pokemon League Tournament 2013!"

I was starting to get goosebumps now. It was hard to listen to Bruce Buffer and not get pumped up.

"This is the co-main event of the evening!" He proceeded to read off the names of several corporate sponsors and their slogans. The crowd had gone a little quieter now but the excitement was percolating, just waiting to boil over.

Buffer paused for a moment before announcing, "This is the moment you've all been waiting for!" The crowd noise grew as he stretched out every syllable of "It's time!"

I couldn't help myself now. I began pacing inside my box.

He whirled to me. "Fighting out of the red box: a professional rookie making his Pokemon League debut!" My first and last name are a combined total of two syllables. Bruce Buffer dragged them out for almost ten seconds.

He whirled in a complete one-eighty to David and gave a similar introduction. It would've been hard to give us completely unique introductions since this was our debut tournament. After David was properly introduced, Bruce Buffer gave the name of the ref before the color wheel began to spin up on the big screen.

It landed on green.

"Sumo!" David declared as he snatched a poke ball off his belt. "Get us started!"

"Swampert, go!"

As far as I could remember, this was the first time I had actually battled against David's snorlax. Swampert would be a good match-up for it and more importantly was one of the pokemon I usually carried so it wouldn't tip off the rest of my team to David.

"Sumo, use body slam!"

"Dodge it!"

Despite its immense bulk, Sumo sprang into the air with ease. Swampert rolled to the side as the snorlax crashed down. Sumo rolled back to its feet and launched itself again but Swampert avoided this one as well.

"Swampert, use ice beam!"

Swampert drew up to its full height. It lunged forward and the icy blue jets of lightning erupted from its mouth. They converged on the chest of the snorlax. Instead of bowling the pokemon over or even shoving it back, the ice attack merely seemed to knock it slightly off balance.

Suddenly I knew why David had included his snorlax in this match. It without a doubt had the ability of thick fat. An ability that reduced the damage of fire and ice moves was a good idea against a guy who was known for using a charizard. I started to wonder what other tricks David might have up his sleeves.

"Ice isn't good? All right, fine then. Swampert, use hammer arm!"

Swampert clubbed Sumo with a glowing forearm that sent the bulky pokemon to the ground. That was a little more like it. Sumo showed surprising speed for a pokemon of its size as it rolled away from a falling hammer arm and got back to its feet.

"Use heavy slam, Sumo!"

A yellow aura surrounded the snorlax as it raced forward. It slammed into Swampert with a hard tackle that sent my pokemon flying back. Swampert skipped across the ground twice and then drove a fist into the ground. Using the fist as a pivot point, it rotated itself around to land on its feet.

"You ok, Swampert?" I called. I got a nod in reply.

At least I knew what had happened. I had first stumbled across heavy slam when researching to face Zakhar in the previous round. The more the user outweighed its opponent, the more powerful the attack became and there weren't a lot of pokemon that outweighed a snorlax. The only thing going in my favor was that it was actually a steel-type move which did reduced damage against Swampert.

"Swampert, use hydro pump!"

"Block it with ice beam!"

As the icy jets slammed into the blast of crystal clear water, it was a good reminder of just how versatile a snorlax could be. Sumo had used three attacks and all three were different types. I didn't even want to know what the fourth one was.

"Earthquake!" I yelled.

Swampert lifted its thick arms above its head and then smashed them down, palms flat to the ground. Sumo didn't have any resistances to that one. It roared in pain as the tremor swept over it and knocked it to the ground where it continued to get jostled around.

David lifted his poke ball. "Sumo, return! Go, Lenny!"

I was already scrambling for my own poke ball. I didn't want Swampert messing with grass-types. "Swampert, return! Charizard!"

When I ordered Charizard into the air and David didn't swap pokemon to avoid this unfavorable match-up, I became slightly concerned. There was no way he could have thought his torterra could match up with my charizard. Charizard was my most veteran pokemon along with Sceptile and David had caught Lenny a little bit before the halfway point of our journey. Not only that, but the pokemon had only recently evolved into its final form a few weeks before the tournament started. Something was definitely amiss.

"Charizard, use dragon claw!"

"Stone edge!"

Blue specks began orbiting Lenny and resolved themselves into long, sharp stones. They rocketed up at my pokemon. Charizard swatted the lead stone away with its glowing claws and went into a dive to avoid the rest.

"Interesting plan," I muttered to myself. "But it won't work. Charizard, flamethrower!"

"Light screen!"

A shimmering golden box formed around Lenny. The raging fires slammed into the shield which absorbed most of their power. The golden shimmer faded when the flamethrower did, leaving an unfazed torterra.

Ok, so maybe there was more to David's plan.

"Lenny, return!"

Now things were getting interesting. In all the times that I had battled with David, he was never a rapid changer. He usually stuck with whatever pokemon he had on the field for longer amounts of time. Seeing him change this quickly made me wary.

"War Machine, go!"

I had forgotten that David had evolved his rhydon into a rhyperior. With a powerful defense aided by the light shield, I'm sure he had planned to pound me into submission with rock-type moves.

I wasn't having any of it though. "Charizard, return! Swampert, come on back!"

"War Machine, use earthquake!"

With no way to avoid the attack, Swampert had to just brace itself for the worst of it.

Once the seismic activity had passed, I shouted, "Hydro pump!"

The water smashed into the golden box that was light screen. Despite the attack being normally doubly super-effective, the rhyperior looked like it hadn't even noticed it. That must have been some light screen.

"We'll just have to get around that light screen then. Hammer arm!"

"Intercept and use megahorn!"

The two pokemon lumbered towards each other, neither particularly fleet of foot. Swampert swung one arm down like a club only to have War Machine catch it at the elbow below where it was glowing. The other arm of Swampert started glowing and it swung this one upward. With a thick three-fingered hand, War Machine grabbed that one too. They struggled there for a moment. Suddenly War Machine's primary horn glowed white and grew by a significant amount. The rock-type pokemon began forcing my pokemon back as it tried to drive the megahorn into it.

"Hydro pump!"

I had hoped that at close range maybe light screen wouldn't work or it wouldn't appear in time. No such luck. War Machine flung Swampert's arms apart and slammed into it with the megahorn. Swampert started to fall back and War Machine released its grip to let it.

"Rock wrecker!"

War Machine held its arms out, palms facing each other. From the holes in its hands came a barrage of small rocks that slammed into each other and formed a huge boulder outlined in red. The rhyperior hefted the boulder above its head and heaved it at Swampert. Still recovering from the megahorn, Swampert couldn't dodge. The boulder smashed apart against its chest and threw the pokemon to the ground.

"Ice beam!"

From its position on its back, Swampert let loose with the ice beam. The blue bolts slammed into the light screen and like the hydro pump before, had absolutely no visible effect on War Machine. This was starting to get old.

"Hammer arm!"

Swampert dove forward to avoid an incoming megahorn and swung around with a glowing forearm. It caught the rhyperior in the flank but barely tipped it off balance. I frowned at this. A body blow like that should've lifted the pokemon off its feet considering it was a super-effective fighting-type move. I was missing something here but I had no idea what.

"Rock wrecker!"

War Machine swung around and smashed another boulder against Swampert. The fact that it did diminished damage against my pokemon was probably the only thing keeping it in this fight right now. Swampert rebounded quickly and drove both arms up together at War Machine. The pair of hammer arms at least staggered the big rock-type this time. Staggered wasn't enough though. We needed to do some real damage fast.

"Hydro pump!"

Swampert reared back and unleashed an enormous blast of crystalline water as it fell back forward. This time no light screen appeared to meet it. The water slammed into War Machine but the bigger pokemon barely moved. The water was pounding into its flank but it almost seemed to be going right around, doing little damage.

If I had been anywhere but the Pokemon League, I would've instantly reached for my pokedex. I was clearly missing something. There was absolutely no reason that this rhyperior was taking shot after shot and acting like nothing had happened. It had to have some kind of ability I didn't know about yet.

"Megahorn!"

Lead by its glowing white horn, War Machine plowed right through the hydro pump. It ran Swampert right over like there was no resistance. Swampert slowly rolled over and back onto all fours as War Machine made a wide turn and came around for another shot.

"Wait for it… wait for it," I said softly. "Now! Get on up!"

It was a tactic that I hadn't used in a long time but luckily Swampert still remembered. The pokemon aimed its mouth at the ground and fired a hydro pump. Granted, Swampert was a bit heavier than it was when we'd first done this back when it was still a mudkip but it was strong enough to launch the pokemon into the air. Surprised, War Machine ran right into the column of water that had Swampert suspended in the air. The force of the water combined with gravity knocked the rhyperior forward where the water pinned it to the ground.

"Hammer arms!"

The water flow cut off and Swampert dropped like a rock. It drove both glowing forearms down onto War Machine as it crashed back to Earth. The hard ground cracked and smashed as War Machine was forced down into it. The big rock pokemon actually had its head buried and its feet just barely touching the ground as it was now implanted into the field at an angle.

"Megahorn!"

War Machine planted its arms and got its feet set. Streams of light began to emit out of the cracks in the ground right below Swampert's feet.

"Rhy-perior!" War Machine's head came tearing out of the ground. A wall of white energy swept up with its horn, heaving Swampert into the sky.

"Rock wrecker!"

The huge boulder formed and War Machine slammed it against my falling swampert. The impact turned the boulder into gravel and my pokemon into a lifeless heap.

"Swampert is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "War Machine is the winner!"

I took a few moments to assess the situation after I had recalled my pokemon because something was clearly amiss. Any other rock/ground pokemon would've wilted under the barrage Swampert had unleashed. By a rough count, War Machine had weathered eight attacks that were at a minimum super-effective. Now that the battle had paused, I could see that the rhyperior had not come through the battle unscathed. It was slouching forward slightly while favoring one arm. Whatever ability War Machine had that was letting it absorb all these attacks wasn't completely negating the damage, just reducing it apparently.

I'd just have to up the effectiveness of super-effective. "Sceptile, go!"

David's eyes flared and I knew there was about to be trouble. "War Machine, flamethrower!"

From the holes in War Machine's palms erupted huge gouts of fire. This had been what David had been waiting for. He had been hoping I'd switch to my grass-type and had held this move in reserve to surprise me with. Unfortunately for him, Sceptile was up to the challenge. Sceptile sorely outclassed a rhyperior in the speed department, especially a tired rhyperior. It raced away before the flames could even get close.

"Energy ball!"

Sceptile pulled an arm back and hurled the green orb. War Machine was ready. It re-aimed its flamethrower at the incoming attack, detonating it in an orange and green fireball.

"Megahorn!"

"Leaf blade!"

As War Machine charged, the twin leaves on both of Sceptile's arms folded down into huge glowing blades. Sceptile raced out, meeting the megahorn with one leaf blade. The grass pokemon managed to divert the aim of the powerful bug-type attack and swung around, raking its other leaf blade across War Machine's flank.

"Rock wrecker!" David shouted as his pokemon tried to find its balance.

"Block it with iron tail!"

Sceptile swung its big tail around, smashing apart the incoming boulder with its silvery glow. The big rock exploded into a mist of gravel and debris, hiding the two pokemon from one another. A lance of fire ripped through the cloud. Obscured by the falling debris War Machine's accuracy was off, only managing to clip Sceptile but it was a powerful glancing blow nonetheless.

"Need to finish this," I muttered. "Leaf blade!"

Sceptile dove through what remained of the debris cloud. War Machine tried to blast it with another flamethrower but Sceptile ducked underneath and only received a slight scorch. The grass pokemon stayed low until it came up to its opponent, then lashed out with one leaf blade and then another. I could see a faint green etching on War Machine's chest where the two attacks had crossed like an X.

"Finish it off! Energy ball!"

My pokemon lifted both hands into the air, the dark green ball of energy forming between them. It brought it crashing down on to the X it had created on its opponents chest. The two pokemon disappeared inside the green explosion, though Sceptile appeared a moment later as it sprang backwards away.

"War Machine is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Sceptile is the winner!"

That had taken considerably more effort than I had expected. It did, however, give me a little more insight into David's strategy. I may have been reading too much into things, but two of the three pokemon I'd faced had demonstrated attacks that were super-effective against grass-types. If I were a betting man, I'd wager that David's strategy most likely revolved around taking out my Sceptile.

Al, let's go!" David announced.

"Nope! Sceptile, return!" Despite being just a small body held aloft by four wings, I didn't want my sceptile facing David's crobat. If his intention was indeed to take out my sceptile, I wanted to make it as hard as possible. "Raichu, go!"

There was a little bit of hesitation on my part to send out Raichu already. If Sceptile were to fall, it was really my only other option as far as super-effectiveness. Really though, I didn't have a choice. None of my other pokemon matched up well against a crobat.

Hopefully I could just end things quickly. "Thunder!"

"Block it with cross poison!"

Al folded its wings across its body as a purple glow enveloped them. The wings snapped back open and the purple glow in the shape of an X flew out. It slammed into the lightning bolt headed for the crobat and the two attacks defused each other in a massive fireball.

"Al, use shadow ball!"

"Iron tail!"

As the black orb crackling with sparks grew closer, Raichu spun around. A silver glow had swept over the bolt shape at the end of its tail. The pokemon swung the tail into the ghost-type attack and sent it sailing away in a different direction. It exploded harmlessly off on the side of the field.

"Double team!" Suddenly there were copies of Al everywhere.

I surveyed the field. There was probably at least twenty crobats flying around now but only one of them was real. It wasn't the best double team I'd seen though. They weren't all moving independently of one another. Either way, I'd prepared for this.

"Discharge!"

Raichu dropped down onto all fours and lifted its tail into the air. A surge of lightning erupted from the tip of the tail, a huge web of electricity enveloping the field. We didn't have to try and guess which crobat was real if we could hit them all. The copies quickly vanished to leave just one Al writhing inside the discharge.

"Hang in there Al!" David yelled. "Use shadow ball!"

Al had to struggle to focus as the electricity ravaged its body. For a moment I thought I wasn't going to be able to pull off the attack. Then the black blob of shadows burst into existence and flew at Raichu. Raichu ended its attack so it could dodge but was a step slow. I lost sight of the pokemon for a moment in the roiling black explosion.

"Cross poison!"

Raichu leapt out of the explosion with streams of blackness trailing behind it. Right into a cross poison. The purple X detonated against my pokemon and I lost sight of it again. When it became visible again there were purple sparks playing over its body. Raichu winced as the sparks intensified and then vanished. The pokemon had been poisoned.

"They think they got us? We'll just take them with us! Raichu, use thunder!"

Al was fast but not fast enough. The bolt of lightning slammed into the poisonous flying-type and sent it crashing into the wall of the arena. I had expected the round to be over but clearly I had underestimated the crobat's defensive capabilities. It flew a little crookedly but it still flew. Although if my memory served me, the pokemon had always flown a little crooked.

David wasn't taking any chances though. "Al, return! Go, Duke!"

This was the moment I'd been waiting for. David had finally sent one of his two big guns onto the field. If I could take out his primeape, it would be a huge coup for me. It wouldn't be an easy task though. Duke had been with David since the beginning.

I had to start somewhere though. "Raichu, thunder!"

A huge blast of lightning spiraled across the field, ripping up chunks of the terrain it passed over. I don't know what David had been expecting but he seemed to be taken by surprise. Duke had been too and didn't manage to get out of the way. The bolt struck Duke and encapsulated him in a constant aura of electricity.

"Dig!"

With a flurry of movement, the fighting-type pokemon disappeared underground. Its target suddenly gone, the lightning bolt slammed into the ground and diffused. A second later Duke exploded out of the ground, a big fist slamming into Raichu's jaw and sending it backwards in a high arc. It was a vicious, super-effective strike but Raichu recovered quickly.

"Duke, use ice punch!"

"Block it with iron tail!"

Duke charged and Raichu jumped. Duke punched a fist swirling with ice upwards, Raichu brought a tail with a silver glow down. The two attacks crackled and sparked as they held the two pokemon in suspension, each trying to over power the other.

"That's the thing about iron tail," David called to me over the din the attacks were creating. "Unless you've got two tails, you can only use it once. Ice punch on the other hand…"

As he let the sentence hang, Duke's other hand curled into a fist and the icy mist swirled around it. It swung that hand up as well.

"Unless you've got hands to spare! Brick break!"

Raichu rolled away from the first ice punch. It reared back with a paw that glowed white and swung down to meet the second ice punch. Off balance from the sudden disappearance of its resistance, Duke didn't meet the brick break with full force. The impact was still enough to throw the two pokemon apart.

"Wow, did not see that one coming," David said. "Well done."

"Kind of fun isn't it? Like in the good old days when we could still surprise each other."

A smile tugged at David's lips. "We've come a long ways since then. Been through a lot."

I lifted a poke ball. "Speaking of the good old days… Raichu, return! Go Charizard!"

"If you get stuck in the past, you'll never see the future. Duke, come back! Sumo, go!"

This move wasn't surprising. I had expected it even. With its ability reducing the damage that fire inflicted on it, Sumo was the best choice David had to face Charizard outside of his wartortle but I assumed he was saving his best for last.

"Charizard, flamethrower!" I knew it wouldn't be as effective but some habits die hard.

Sumo took the blast of fire without flinching in the slightest.

"Dragon claw!"

"Heavy slam!"

Outlined in yellow, the snorlax came barreling at Charizard as it swooped in low. Charizard slashed its glowing claws across Sumo's flank but that did little to slow the oncoming pokemon. My pokemon weighed significantly less than Sumo so the heavy slam did a lot of damage. If not for its steel typing, it would've done significantly more.

"Focus blast!"

Still falling back from Sumo's attack, Charizard whipped the pulsing orb at Sumo before crashing to the ground. Not expecting such a quick counter, Sumo had no opportunity to dodge. The first attack to strike for super-effective damage in the round exploded against the snorlax.

"Focus blast again!"

"Ice beam!"

The jagged blue bolts lanced out from Sumo's mouth and intercepted the incoming fight-type attack. It didn't blow it apart, instead it made the focus blast roll to the side and miss its target by a wide margin. Charizard had to pull a wing back out of the way or risk the ice beam hitting it.

"Sumo, use body slam!"

The bulky pokemon dove at Charizard who flared its wings to catch a breeze and drift backwards. Sumo slammed down hard on the ground, rolled through and came up leaping again. This time it gained some serious altitude. Charizard couldn't go up and wasn't going back fast enough to dodge. Sumo crashed down on Charizard, completely hiding my pokemon from my view.

"Charizard, flare blitz!"

Very few things can stand up to an angry charizard. Sumo wasn't one of them.

Flames began shooting out from underneath the snorlax. As they grew in intensity, the fire began lifting the heavy pokemon aloft. Suddenly a rocket of flames shot into the sky and threw Sumo off. The fire subsided as Charizard glided back down to the ground.

"Charizard, return! Heracross, take over and use stone edge!"

"Block it with ice beam!"

Sumo swept its ice beam over the incoming stones. Ice formed over them, dropping them to the ground well short of their target where they shattered.

"Let's see them block this…," I muttered. "Mega horn!"

White light washed over Heracross' horn as it flew towards Sumo. To my surprise, David didn't try to block it. Sumo open its arms wide in an inviting gesture. It seemed suspicious but I let Heracross go. The bug pokemon drove its horn into Sumo's chest, pushing the pokemon backwards despite its immense weight.

"Fire punch!"

Sumo's right hand burst into flames. It swung down at my pokemon and smacked it away. Sumo gave chase and got in another fire punch before Heracross could release its wings and fly to safety.

"You like punches? We got punches! Heracross, close combat!"

Probably just to spite me after nixing its wrestling moves, Heracross led off with a flying kick to that connected with Sumo's head.

Sumo threw a flaming uppercut but Heracross went into some kind of spinning horizontal roll that carried it out of Sumo's range. One clawed foot touched down and Heracross shot back at its opponent. Two straight shots into Sumo's gut and as the bigger pokemon doubled over in pain, Heracross shot upward to drive a knee into the snorlax's face. Sumo's head snapped back. Heracross spun in the air and delivered another kick to the side of the bigger pokemon's head. Sumo tried to fight back with a fire punch but Heracross slipped under the punch and got under the big pokemon's guard. The bug pokemon latched onto Sumo's arm and using the heavy pokemon's own momentum, hurled it a surprising distance across the field. Sumo slammed down hard and let out a low growling moan. It wasn't out yet but it was close.

Heracross turned violently to look at me. It was standing right above Sumo's head.

I sighed. "Seriously?"

Its yellow eyes bored into me.

"Fine…," I raised up my right elbow and smacked it with my other hand. "Drop the elbow!"

Heracross let out a sound that could only be described as gleeful.

It swung its arms across its body and then back out again. With a boost from its wings, it shot into the air and came crashing down on Sumo elbow first. Given Sumo's immense bulk, all of Heracross landed on the snorlax but that was besides the point. My pokemon had just delivered what was probably the first ever People's Elbow in Tournament History.

On the plus side, the crowd went absolutely berserk. I couldn't even hear Sumo being declared unable to battle. Being a wrestling fan, even David was having a hard time concealing a smile.

"Good show," he offered. "But I think it needs a rewrite. Go, Lenny!"

Now this I knew was some kind of a trap. David was well aware of the history that Heracross had with torterra and the pokemon's strong dislike of them. Even now, Heracross was practically quaking where it stood with rage. I had to figure out David's plan and quick.

"Hyper beam!"

Yup, that was probably it.

"Dodge!"

Heracross managed to dive away from the beam itself but the explosion swept it up. My pokemon was deposited a number of yards away from where it had been just a few moments ago. Had its defenses not been lowed by the use of close combat, I had no doubt Heracross would've been fine. Either way, we had a brief window to counter-attack.

"Mega horn!"

Lenny was locked in paralysis, the side effect from using hyper beam. Heracross drove its horn into the pokemon with tremendous force. It kept up the force, pushing Lenny back and leaving trenches in the terrain where the torterra was trying to keep its footing.

"Leaf storm!"

The tree on the back of the torterra glowed a bright green and a cyclone of leaves shot out. I had been waiting for this and ordered my pokemon out of there. Heracross escaped with nary a scratch.

"Heracross, return!" Keeping a pokemon in with lowered defenses was like playing with fire. There was only one kind of fire I played with. "Charizard, go!"

"Shield yourself, Lenny!" David ordered. "Light screen and then use stone edge!"

The shimmering yellow box flashed into existence and then faded just as quickly. It was followed by a ring of blue lights that resolved themselves into the familiar sharp stones. Charizard shot up into the air and away from them.

"Flamethrower!"

Charizard unleashed a mighty torrent of flames but they just pounded into the light screen.

"Hyper beam!"

"Block it with flamethrower!"

Yellow energy and orange flames slammed into each other and coalesced into one ever-expanding sphere of unstable energy that quickly detonated with a ground-shaking explosion. Taking advantage of Lenny's paralysis, Charizard basted its opponent with another flamethrower. Again the light screen appeared to protect the torterra. Half of the damage inflicted by a super-effective move was still a lot but clearly not enough.

A plan was forming in my head but I needed to test something first. "Dragon claw!"

Charizard dove in at Lenny. David and Lenny instantly fired back with a stone edge. Charizard was struck by a pair of rocks before making its escape. I tried the same tactic again but with the same result. David was no fool. He wouldn't try to scare off a close range charizard with a hyper beam. If he did, it would leave his pokemon wide open for a flare blitz. I'd have to come up with a new plan.

I'd beaten pokemon with light screen before, I could do it again.

For his part, David seemed content to react instead of act. He made no move to take the offensive, merely countering everything I threw at him. If I had to guess, he was either trying to tire out my charizard or convince me to switch pokemon. Or maybe not. He was starting to get in my head a little with this perceived misdirection.

"Hey, that's an idea." I had a flashback to tangling with another pokemon with light screen. "Charizard, into the sky! High up!" The fire pokemon shot into the sky. "Higher! As high as you can go!"

Both David and Lenny craned their necks. Charizard was well out of range. It wasn't even a speck in the sky. The sun had begun to set, streaks of light piercing the clouds and aiding Charizard in staying out of view.

I cupped my hands around my mouth. "Focus blast! Tight grip! Tight grip!"

Hopefully Charizard understood what I meant.

A speck of light appeared in the sky. It moved in an erratic way, fluttering in all directions as it plummeted. It wasn't perfect but it did make it harder to tell where it had come from. The orb had built up a lot of speed and hit Lenny's light screen with tremendous force.

"Flare blitz!" I yelled during the explosion, hoping the sounds would hide my words from David.

It was like a missile had been fired from some far away fighter jet. A streak of fire burned through the sky. Coming from Lenny's flank, the torterra never saw it coming. Charizard slammed into Lenny and exploded like the missile it had looked like. My pokemon lifted itself out of the explosion with its wings. Lenny was still unseen.

A wind swept over the arena to push the swirling flames aside. Lenny was slumped to one side.

"Lenny is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Charizard is the winner!"

He checked the scoreboard quickly and then added, "The Green Trainer has lost three pokemon! We will now have a five minute break."

I stepped out of my trainers box to the bench that was a few yards behind it against the arena wall. A random kid with a staff pass brought me a Gatrade and a towel. I mopped off the sweat I hadn't realized was coating my face and neck. The Gatrade wasn't one of my favorite flavors but it still hit the spot.

For the first time going into the break I was in control. Not just in control but firmly in control. David was down three pokemon to my one. I was feeling good. There were only three more pokemon between me and the finals.

I was trying not to get overconfident but I liked my chances.

*Author's note*

Part 2 of this battle will be posted no later than 8/17/13. I promise!


	60. Chapter 59

"Raichu, let's get it going again!"

David considered this for only a second before responding, "Duke, go!"

Raichu dropped down onto all fours. Sparks flickered from its cheek pouches. Duke answered with a few shadow punches. The primeape began dancing around, shuffling its feet ala Muhammad Ali. Clearly the fighting-type was amped up and ready to go. I placed my hands on my hips as I watched the furry pokemon continue to shadow box. Turning my head slightly, I observed the crowd.

They were here for a show and dammit, we were going to give it to them.

"Raichu, return!" I gave David a slight nod. He had always talked about this match-up but we'd never had it. "Heracross, go!"

David's eyes went wide as he gave me a look that asked if I was sure I wanted to do this. I nodded again.

"You always wanted to pit the best fighting pokemon against each other," I called to him. "Now seems like as good of time as any!"

Heracross slid its feet apart, one slightly ahead of the other. It brought one arm low and forward and the other one back and high in a clear martial arts pose. Duke responded by curling its right arm up over his head and brought the left up to shoulder level with the hand and forearm up like he was signaling for a turn. The furry pokemon sank back in its stance as it brought one foot back.

"Hera-cross," my pokemon growled, extending out the final syllable and slowly growing in volume.

"Prime-ape…" Duke copied Heracross' vocals.

The two pokemon continued to raise their voices until they were screaming as they focused their energy. If this was an anime battle like it was starting to resemble, flames of energy would be dancing wildly around them. Winds would be blowing dirt and debris everywhere. It would've been awesome.

That's when the ground began to tremble.

It wasn't a great earth-rumbling but I could definitely feel it. I caught David's eye and knew he could feel it as well. As soon as the rumbling had appeared, it vanished.

The two pokemon flew at each other.

"Close combat!" David and I yelled in unison.

A steady wind pulsed out from where the two pokemon met and began exchanging strikes. Fists and feet moved with such ferocity that they became a blur. They weren't just stationary and punching and kicking either. The two pokemon were dodging and leaping around strikes too. Now it was really resembling an anime martial arts battle because no human could move this fast.

Then in a snap of sound and a visible shockwave, they were gone.

They reappeared a few feet away, still battling hard. Another bang and they showed up somewhere else. It happened twice more after that.

The battle began to shift after that.

The two pokemon were starting to land strikes now. Duke landed a hard kick to the side but Heracross countered with a vicious head butt. The primeape was the faster of the two but only slightly. Heracross was obviously stronger physically. The speed difference seemed to not be enough to compensate for the strength difference and Duke began to falter in the strike exchanges.

David had noticed this as well. "Dig!"

Duke disappeared underground. It rocketed back out a moment later with an uppercut that lifted Heracross off its feet and into the air.

"Aerial ace!"

Heracross used the momentum Duke's strike had created to its advantage and snapped off a sharp turn in the air. Trailing white energy, it slammed into Duke for serious super-effective damage. It had created a pivotal moment and whoever capitalized on it might just win.

"Rage!" David bellowed.

"Prime-APE!" The primeape's eyes flashed red and then dissolved into blank white, no irises or pupils at all. Just pure, rage-blinded white. It let out a blood-curling roar.

"Hit it hard and hit it fast!" I shouted. "Stone edge!"

Some of the rocks smashed into Duke but it sidestepped the majority of the attack. It screamed in rage again. Instead of looking damaged, the pokemon was just looking pissed off. I was going to have to figure out how to deliver maximum damage without exposing Heracross to Duke's ever-increasing attack power. Somehow, I didn't think that was going to be possible.

"Aerial ace!"

"Ice punch!"

Duke came charging in at Heracross with a fist pulled back. It swung forward with all its might as my pokemon came roaring down at it. The white energy from Heracross' horn and the icy mists swirling around Duke's fist were a volatile mix and blew the two pokemon apart. Duke screamed again, beating its chest in an uncontrolled fury.

"Duke, use dig!"

Rage is a fickle move.

The rage a pokemon goes into after it uses rage and then gets struck can vary in intensity. Most often the pokemon will still respond to their trainer, following commands and tactical advice and the such. But every once in a while, a pokemon goes into a rage so great that it ignores everything. Its trainer included. That was the kind of rage Duke had seeped into.

Instead of burrowing under the soil, Duke rushed at Heracross. The bug pokemon greeted its opponent with a three-strike combo that would've shattered a boulder. Duke didn't even flinch. Duke just ran right through Heracross, literally. It knocked my pokemon down and just kept running.

"Duke!" David shouted. "Listen to me! Listen to the sound of my voice!"

I wasn't going to allow him the luxury of coaxing his pokemon back to sanity. "Use aerial ace!"

"Ice punch!"

A furred ear twitched. Duke swung around and threw an icy haymaker. Instead of the flying and fighting energies mixing and tossing the two pokemon apart, Duke easily overpowered Heracross. Heracross was knocked back across the ring like it weighed next to nothing instead of over a hundred pounds.

"Close combat!" David yelled.

Duke rushed Heracross who had just recovered in midair by popping its wings free. The two pokemon went into a flurry of strikes again. This time it was different. Before Heracross could block a punch with a punch, now it had to try and swipe the fists and feet away or dodge them all together. My pokemon was now horribly outclassed in strength and the gap was growing greater with every hit that it landed.

"PRIME! PRIME APE APE!"

In the blink of an eye Duke had clamped down a big mitt of a hand on each of Heracross' forearms. Struggle as my pokemon might, it couldn't get free. Duke leaned its head back and then snapped it forward at the same moment it jerked Heracross closer. The crunching noise the head butt made was something I would never forget.

Duke screamed again and hurled Heracross across the field with one arm.

"Heracross is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Duke is the winner!"

"Thanks Heracross," I said softly to the pokemon through its poke ball. "You did a heck of a job."

In an interview after the match, I would opine that not switching Heracross out was probably my biggest mistake. If I hadn't been so prideful in my fighting pokemon, I might have had it available later on in the battle when I could've used it and more importantly, not let David back into the battle.

"Gengar, let's go!" This was the pokemon I should've sent out earlier.

David nodded, ready for this new challenge. "Duke, use ice punch!"

Rage is a hell of a move.

Duke screamed bloody murder and charged right at Gengar. It didn't use ice punch or really any other attack, just trying to barrel right into my pokemon. Well that doesn't work so well against a ghost-type. The primeape went literally right through Gengar, leaving my pokemon unscathed.

"Poison jab!"

A purple glow swept over Gengar's hand as it turned to give chase to Duke. It floated up in the air and gave a sharp strike to the back of Duke's head. Duke whirled around to face Gengar, staring at it with those creepy completely white eyes. Even Gengar seemed momentarily unsettled by them.

"Ice punch!" David yelled again.

This time his command penetrated Duke's cloud of rage. Duke pulled back one massive fist and drove an icy punch right into Gengar. The ghost pokemon flew back and right through the wall of the arena. After a few moments Gengar slid back through the wall, floating a little unsteadily now.

It would probably be best to keep some distance between the two pokemon after a strike like that. "Gengar, shadow ball!"

Duke had other ideas. The fighting-type pokemon charged forward, letting the shadow ball explode against its chest without slowing. Then without warning, Duke dove into the ground. There was a flurry of limbs as it dug its way under the ground much to David's dismay.

"Get a shadow ball ready," I called to Gengar.

Gengar pulled its arms back to one side and formed the black orb. Small bolts of black lightning crackled around it as the pokemon hovered in the air, waiting. Duke exploded out of the ground, lead by a big fist. Gengar simply floated back away and planted the shadow ball in the center of Duke's back.

As Duke disappeared in the explosion, I yelled, "Get in there with poison jab!"

Both of Gengar's hands glowed purple now as it dove into the smoke cloud. I heard two distinct impacts and Duke came staggering out of the fading explosion. The fighting-type pokemon let out a scream of rage that went up a few octaves when purple sparks began to play over its body. Yet even after being poisoned, Duke remained standing.

"Come on Duke," David pleaded. "Stay with me! Ice punch!"

Duke either heard this or it was just a coincidence because it swung an icy fist down at Gengar. My pokemon hopped back out of the way. The impact of Duke's fist with the ground was so immense though that a shockwave of icy wind washed across the field and knocked Gengar back, putting nearly the entire field between them.

"We need to finish this!" I declared. "Shadow ball!"

"Ice punch!"

Gengar launched its attack as Duke swung another icy fist.

"Poison jab!"

Gengar melted into the ground and surged across the field as nothing but a shadow, covering the distance in a trio of heartbeats. It pulled itself back up to its full form behind Duke. Duke was just turning as Gengar drove a purple fist into the side of the fighting pokemon's head. That's when the shadow ball hit.

For a moment, nothing happened after the smoke cleared. Duke still stood there, breathing heavily. Gengar floated behind it still with a grin on its face but a worried grin. Then Duke's knees gave way. It dropped down onto its knees and then fell forward, face first.

"Duke is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Gengar is the winner!"

David and I exchanged nods of begrudging respect. He respected me for defeating one of his most powerful pokemon. I respected him for training a primeape to the level that it could take a thunder attack, an aerial ace, a stone edge, two close combats, four poison jabs and three shadow balls. That's a hell of a beating for any pokemon to take.

David took his time with his next choice and the ref allowed him to. The scoreboard showed David with just two pokemon left to my four. One of his squares that showed a pokemon picture was still completely blank to indicate he still had a pokemon that was unused. Anyone with any sense knew what his final pokemon would be though. As far as I was concerned, the only mystery left was when Vlad the wartortle would finally enter battle.

David made his choice. "Al, let's go!"

Apparently I would have to wait a little longer.

There was no sense waiting around. "Gengar, use shadow ball!"

"Block it with air slash!"

Al snapped its wings together and then apart. A trio of spinning blades composed of air energy came flying out and impacted the incoming shadow ball.

"Now you use shadow ball, Al!"

"Dark pulse!"

Gengar pulled its arms back to form the swarm of black rings. It thrust its arms forward and the swarm exploded into a beam. The dark pulse intercepted the shadow ball and the two attacks exploded into a fireball that was as black as midnight.

The crobat and the gengar were an interesting match-up for each other. Both were part poison-type, which made Al's cross poison and Gengar's poison jab almost useless. Al had just demonstrated its other attacks, only having double team left which it had demonstrated earlier. Shadow ball was the only attack that could really cause me trouble since it was super-effective. David had seen three of Gengar's attacks and had to be wondering what the fourth might be.

Conveniently, water-types and flying-types share a weakness.

I swept a hand out in front of body. "Gengar, use thunderbolt!"

Gengar exploded with lightning catching our opponents off guard. David had most likely been expecting hypnosis or something similar since that had been the strategy I'd employed with Gengar since I had caught it as a haunter. As his pokemon was wracked by waves of pain he was probably wishing he had expected something different.

"Al, use air slash!"

Personally, I hadn't expected Al to be able to counterattack. The aura of lightning that was encasing the crobat was immensely powerful To its credit, it got off two of the air slashes that slammed into Gengar. The electric connection was severed and Al immediately vacated the area it had been in. The flying pokemon had already taken two electric attacks from when it had battled Raichu. There was only so many super-effective attacks a pokemon could stand. David was clearly thinking of this too and had his pokemon create the many images of itself with double team.

"Get ready, Gengar!" I shouted. My pokemon was now surrounded by a ring of crobats. In front of each of them was the beginning of a shadow ball being formed. "Dark pulse!"

Gengar fired the beam at one of the crobats in front of it at random. The target vanished the moment the beam touched it, the attack carrying on to explode harmlessly off the side of the field. Gengar fired again but with the same result.

"Quick! Thunderbolt right behind you!"

Without looking, Gengar erupted with lightning. Apparently it should've looked. The lightning bolt missed its target but a foot. Al launched its shadow ball and judging from the angle Gengar fell away from the explosive impact, the target it missed may have been the real thing.

"Thunderbolt! Same target!"

Gengar might've still been listing to one side but it was turned enough to aim this time. Al wasn't just going to sit there and be a target though. It tried to avoid the lightning bolt, only getting clipped in one wing. All the false images faltered as the real Al plummeted downwards as it tried to regain feeling in its wings. The poisonous flier recovered just in time to make a rapid course correction to avoid another thunderbolt from Gengar.

"Get in there Al! Shadow ball!"

I ordered for a counter of the same move. The two ghost-type attacks slammed together and blew up.

I pointed at the ground. Gengar nodded and melted away into a shadow that streaked across the field. I had realized I had been becoming predictable and devised this little maneuver with my pokemon. Instead of going right through the heart of the explosion where Al had just fired another shadow ball, Gengar emerged out of the ground behind it and floated up towards it opponent.

"Look out!" David screamed.

There was no where to go. "Thunderbolt!"

From close range and a higher vantage point, Gengar drove Al into the ground with a thunderbolt. Al slammed into the ground, sending chunks of terrain flying.

"Al is unable to battle!" the ref declared from above the still sparking body of the crobat. "Gengar is the winner!"

I let out a breath I hadn't realized I had been holding.

With the downing of Al, I had cleared two of the three hurdles I was worried about. Unfortunately, there was still one left.

Unfortunately, the one left hadn't even seen action yet.

David held his final poke ball low at his side. His eyes were closed as his head tilted forward slightly. He remained that way for only a few seconds. I met his icy blue gaze as his eyes reopened. There was no fear in those eyes, only a determination. David felt, believed and knew that as long as he still had his wartortle, he could still win.

"Vlad, it's time!" he announced.

The crowd gave Vlad a rousing applause as the pokemon on the field. I was momentarily surprised by the noise. Being so focused on the battle, I had briefly forgotten there was an arena of thousands of people watching us.

Vlad twitched its furry ears as it looked at me.

"Vlad, good to see you."

The pokemon offered up a half grin.

I wasn't lying either. It was good to see the wartortle again. If I was going to battle and hopefully defeat David, I wanted to face and defeat his best. And of his pokemon, Vlad was king.

"Alright Gengar, let's do this!" At the last second, I made a strategy adjustment to see if I could catch David off-guard. "Poison jab!"

"Brick break!"

Gengar had closed the distance between it and its opponent in a split-second. Somehow, Vlad was ready. Sparks crackled around its hand as it threw a punch to counter the incoming poison jab. The two attacks pushed against each other with bolts of energy shooting out before the energies at play threw the two pokemon apart.

A hunch was confirmed: Gengar wasn't going to be able to out-muscle Vlad. That wasn't a surprise though. Good thing muscle wasn't the only thing that counted.

"Gengar, thunderbolt!"

I knew David had raised his wartortle to be fleet of foot but there was only a handful of pokemon that were faster than a gengar. Although with this newest generation, a gengar may have fallen a little further down the list. However, I knew exactly where a wartortle fell on the list and it wasn't faster than my gengar.

Vlad was already being electrocuted when David shouted, "Hydro pump!"

Like it wasn't having nearly one-hundred thousand volts of electricity pumped into it, Vlad puffed up its chest and blew out a huge blast of crystal clear water. The water shot by the incoming lightning and speared Gengar right out of the air, driving it into the arena wall. Immediately, the thunderbolt faded.

"Gengar, use shadow ball!"

Having used its ghostly-ness to slip beneath the ground again, Gengar popped out right behind Vlad and hefted the shadow ball above its head. Vlad turned just in time to get a face full of shadowy goodness. It was only a fraction of a second before the wartortle leapt out of the explosion and bit down on Gengar's arm. With a jerk of its neck, Vlad hurled my pokemon to the ground.

I could see this might end poorly if I didn't do something. "Thunderbolt!"

"Hydro pump!"

The thunderbolt struck Vlad but the hydro pump cut it off and began to force it back. Gengar squawked in alarm and redoubled its efforts. Vlad wasn't to be denied. The hydro pump pounded into Gengar and began forcing it into the ground until I lost sight of it down the newly formed hole.

The ref ran onto the field to peer down the hole. "Gengar is unable to battle! Vlad is the winner!"

Vlad looked to David and something passed between them. Then the pokemon turned to look at me.

When it winked, I knew something bad was going to happen.

It only took a second for me to realize what was about to happen. "Son of a…"

Vlad exploded in white light.

Its body bulked out as it grew taller, rising up by a good two feet at least. The furry ears became something more solid and attached to the head. The arms and legs were now thick and powerful. The big furry tail all but disappeared into something smaller and without fur. The evolutionary light was beginning to fade as the two cannons appeared out of the shell, just peaking over the shoulders of the pokemon until needed. The light faded and Vlad's skin went from a light blue to a dark blue. The cream colored lower jaw dropped slightly from the big blue head in a grin.

"Shit." I ran my hand over my mouth. "Shit. Shit. Shit! A blastoise!"

I can honestly say this was the last thing I wanted to happen. However, it had happened so I would just have to roll with it. "Raichu, go!"

Purple sparks played over my pokemon to remind me that the electric pokemon was still poisoned. It looked up at its opponent and confusion played over its features. Confusion melted into a sadistic grin as Raichu realized the challenge in front of it. The lightning bolt shaped tail twitched in anticipation.

"Vlad, use hydro pump!"

The two cannons that were installed inside Vlad's shell extended further out and swiveled to aim with surprising speed. I sent Raichu running as twin blasts of water slammed into the ground where it had been and tore up the terrain. The power behind the hydro pump was incredible.

"Raichu, thunder!"

Raichu slid to a stop on all fours. A huge blast of lightning ripped across the field and slammed into Vlad. Despite its massive size change, the blastoise appeared to be surprisingly nimble and whirled to face my pokemon. Silver energy welled up in the cannons and exploded out in a flash cannon. The pair of steel-type beams intercepted the blast of the thunder and saved Vlad from further damage. Flash cannon continued to force the thunder back until the energies became too much and a huge explosion washed over the field.

"Skull bash!"

Vlad rocketed through the explosion, a white energy that swirled around its head leading the way. Shocked at seeing the blastoise fly like that, Raichu couldn't get out of the way. The impact hurled my pokemon much further away than I would've liked. The purple sparks returned as Raichu unsteadily got back to its feet.

"Hydro pump!"

I hesitated. "Charge it!"

There was one disadvantage to having two cannons firing at one spot: there was a gap in the attack up until the point where they converged. Using its superior speed, Raichu raced up that gap as Vlad tried to swivel its cannons together to tag my pokemon.

"Iron tail!" Raichu's tail lit up silver as it screeched to a halt.

"Brick break!"

Raichu slashed its tail at the blastoise but a sparking fist swatted it away. Another attempt was met with the same result. Raichu tried again and again but each time Vlad would punch the tail away.

Suddenly I realized just how close Raichu's tail was getting to Vlad. "Discharge!"

A web of electricity exploded out the tip of Raichu's tail. This suddenly tactical shift caught Vlad slightly off guard and the water-type took the electric attack full force.

"Get behind it!" I shouted.

Raichu dove headfirst between Vlad's thick legs. Vlad tried to kick at it but my pokemon narrowly made it past. Raichu landed and rebounded back up into the air quickly, latching onto Vlad's back.

"Thunder!"

An aura of electricity enveloped Vlad. The blastoise tried to reach and claw my pokemon off its back but its back too broad and its arms not that mobile. Raichu continued to crank out insane levels of voltage in hopes of felling this water behemoth.

"Fall backwards!" David ordered.

Vlad suddenly stuck its arms out to its sides and tipped over backwards. Raichu gave one last shock and then jumped free before Vlad crashed down. I was skeptical of this tactic since Vlad seemed to be stuck on its back now. David shouted another order and the water cannons swiveled around until they pointed at the ground. Blasts of water erupted out of them, the force of them pushing Vlad right back up to a standing position.

"That…" I pointed a finger and bounced it a few times. "That was pretty cool."

"Water cannons are pretty versatile," David said. "Here, watch this: skull bash!"

I wasn't sure how that would show off water cannon versatility until the cannons swiveled even further backwards and helped launch Vlad like a rocket. Vlad slammed into Raichu with tremendous force. My pokemon flew away, bounced and landed in a crumpled heap.

The announcement was merely formality. Everyone could see Raichu was beaten.

Now I was faced with an interesting dilemma. Of my starting six pokemon, only Sceptile and Charizard remained. Normally against a water-type I would release Sceptile to do battle but Vlad was a monstrosity the likes I hadn't encountered before. My worry was that Sceptile wouldn't be able to defeat Vlad and then it would be up to Charizard who was at a type disadvantage. I considered sending them out in the opposite order, hoping that Charizard could inflict enough damage that Sceptile could finish the job. The more thought I gave to it, the more I liked that idea. Charizard had taken more damage than Sceptile making it risky to rely on it as my final hope. Although I had to be honest, neither pokemon had ever let me down before so I should feel confident doing things either way I went.

"Charizard, I choose you!"

Clearly David was surprised by this entry. By all his logic, I should have sent out Sceptile. He finally shrugged. "Have it your way. Hydro pump!"

"Into the sky!"

Two beats of Charizard's mighty wings got I off the ground and shooting into the air. The hydro pump ripped up the spot on the field where it had been before adjusting to trying to track it in the air. Rapid and random changes of direction were the only thing keeping Charizard from taking a hit from hydro pump. It was also, however, keeping my pokemon from being able to attack. What had seemed like a good strategy to start was proving otherwise.

Charizard suddenly went into a steep dive. Having guessed where it might be, Vlad had adjusted its aim high and missed by a wide margin. It would take time to adjust its aim that much.

"Focus blast!" I yelled taking advantage of the moment.

If Vlad couldn't adjust to track Charizard that quickly, it had no chance to catch the focus blast. The light blue orb smashed into Vlad and exploded. Seizing the moment, Charizard continued its descent to close the gap between them.

"Dragon claw!"

Charizard came to a pinpoint stop right in front of Vlad. Both claws left a trio of green streaks through the air as my pokemon slashed dragon claws across the water pokemon. Vlad actually staggered back from this, the rapid onslaught finally catching up with it.

"Hydro pump!"

From this close of range, there was no dodging. The force of the water blast carried Charizard back until the fire pokemon managed to push its way off the attack moments before being slammed into the wall. It took back to the sky, knowing that the air was its best chance of avoiding another devastating water attack.

I took stock of my pokemon as it kept aloft. The fire pokemon hadn't taken a lot of hits in this round or the earlier ones but all the ones it had taken were extremely powerful, two of them super-effective. I figured it would only be a matter of another exchange, maybe two and then I'd have to get Charizard out of there. An exhausted Charizard would be a better backup to Sceptile than no pokemon at all.

"You ready, Charizard?" I called and got a roar in reply. "Focus blast!"

Charizard was already going into a steep dive, one arm trailing with the focus blast, when David yelled, "Flash cannon!"

Sensing the danger, Charizard hurled its attack. The fighting-type attack exploded against the two steel beams.

"Skull bash!"

Propelled by its water cannons, Vlad came rocketing up through the explosion like a big blue spaceship being launched.

"Flare blitz!"

The flame on Charizard's tail erupted into a raging inferno. It flipped over in the air, cutting right through the now huge flames. The fires leapt from the tail to its whole body, cloaking the pokemon in fire. The two pokemon slammed into each other with astounding force, the shockwave from which made me lose my balance. The flames encasing Charizard expanded and my pokemon actually overpowered Vlad, driving the big water-type back into the ground.

"Yes!" I shouted as Charizard drew back up to its full height. "That's how we do it! Focus blast!"

"Hydro pump!"

As Charizard lifted its claws above its head in preparation to bring the orb it was forming smashing down, twin jets of water erupted from Vlad. They hit Charizard center mass and sent it flying across the field, a devastating close-range attack. Charizard crashed down not far from me.

The flame on its tail was barely still there.

I ignored the ref and ran onto the field. I bent down next to the Flame Pokemon's head and gently lifted it in my hands. Its blue eyes met mine and it offered a low rumble. This whole scene was so foreign to me.

I'd never seen Charizard beaten.

"Good work," I said softly. "You did a hell of a job. Don't worry, it won't go to waste. We'll finish this off."

I straightened back up and returned Charizard to its poke ball. The walk back to my box wasn't long but certainly felt it. The crowd was churning with excitement for this final match up. It was all down to this one-on-one for a trip to the Finals. There were only two pokemon I'd want to use in such a high pressure situation.

Luckily, I still had one of them left.

"Sceptile, it's time!"

Sceptile appeared on the field crouched down on one knee. It slowly drew itself up to its full height. Yellow eyes flicked around the field and the thin green arms crossed over its chest. The grass-type pokemon seemed to understand the magnitude of the situation of the situation in which it had been thrust into. The two pokemon continued to stare at one another until the roar of the crowd had fallen to low murmur.

Timing was everything. "Leaf blade!"

"Brick break!"

It was like a scene right out of a samurai movie. Sceptile was charging Vlad and then suddenly it was pass, arm cocked to ahead of it with its blades still glowing. Even from as far away as I was I could make out the neon green crease along the side of the blastoise's shell. There was obvious discomfort in Vlad's face. According to the script, Vlad was now supposed to faceplant in defeat.

"Flash cannon!" David shouted.

Vlad's cannons turned as it pivoted its body around and erupted in silver beams which was in clear violation of the samurai movie script. Sceptile flexed its powerful legs and leapt clear of the blast, riding the shockwave to a perfect landing. Perfect until the next flash cannon slammed into it. My pokemon came tumbling out of the explosion and quickly regained its feet.

"Iron tail!"

"Skull bash!"

Sceptile charged as Vlad took off in a non-cannon propelled skull bash. The grass-type pokemon's tail shimmered silver and it flipped in the air to put all the force it could behind the attack. The iron tail smashed down on the skull bash and the explosion threw the pokemon apart. Both splayed their limbs out, now flying backwards but upright and still facing.

"Flash cannon!"

Vlad's cannons aimed and were firing before either pokemon had landed. The shimmering beams pounded into Sceptile to force it back even further and then explode.

I sneered at the battlefield. Things were not going how I thought they would. With Sceptile's superior speed and considering it had taken far less damage, I had figured we would quickly trounce David and Vlad. What I hadn't counted on was Vlad being the defensive behemoth it had evolved into. By my rough count, the blastoise had already absorbed at least a half dozen super-effective attacks and was still firing on all cylinders.

"Energy ball!" I shouted.

Sceptile stepped from the remains of the explosion and hurled the green orb across the field followed by a second. Vlad responded by firing a hydro pump from one cannon and then the other. Each water blast intercepted an energy ball and detonated them harmlessly.

"Get in there with leaf blade!"

"Block it with brick break!"

Vlad wasn't fast but it was quick. For each leaf blade Sceptile swung, the blastoise countered with a brick break coming the opposite direction. The two pokemon continued to attack, block and counter-attack for probably fifteen seconds, a considerable amount of time in a pokemon battle.

"Iron tail!"

Sceptile suddenly sprang into the air. The grass pokemon wrenched its body around and slammed its glowing tail upside the head of its opponent. Vlad roared in agony as it staggered back and very nearly fell. The water pokemon spun in a circle as it eventually managed to maintain its balance.

That reaction told me something important: Vlad was hurting. Caught off-guard with a fast attack it hadn't been able to brace itself. I still had no real way to gauge just how much damage I'd inflicted on the big water-type. However, knowing I had already caused damage was important.

And knowing is half the battle. Or so I'm told.

David, unfortunately, knew the gig was up. "Skull bash!"

It was a short-range hit and his pokemon didn't have much time to gather up speed. The impact was still sufficient to knock Sceptile back several paces and that was all David seemed to want.

"Flash pump!" he ordered.

Vlad's left cannon welled up with silver energy while the right had visible water churning inside. The two beams exploded out, slamming and twisting together to form a double-helix like beam. I screamed at Sceptile to dodge but the attack was massive. The beams detonated against my pokemon in a huge pillar of an explosion, water and steel energies swirling around and continuing to explode.

"Sceptile! Sceptile, are you ok!?" I was frantic. I still couldn't see anything.

For the longest time, nothing moved.

Then a green claw reached out of the explosion that was mostly an odd colored smoke now and dug into the ground. A second appeared. Battered and charred, Sceptile dragged itself free the remnants of the devastating attack. It tried to push its way back up to it feet and failed.

I sucked in a deep breath though gritted teeth. The end was here.

"Scep… tile…" the pokemon groaned and reset its claws.

With a firm push, Sceptile drew back up to its full height.

"Oh geez, Sceptile," I sighed, shoulders slumping in relief. "Are you ok? Can you keep going?"

The pokemon didn't speak, only nodded. It fixed me with an eye, as if asking a question.

I knew exactly what the pokemon wanted. I nodded. "Get ready. We've got one shot at this. Give it everything you have."

Sceptile responded by sliding its feet further apart. It clenched its claws into fists and drew its elbows in against its sides. Waves of green energy began flowing out of it as its special ability Overgrow kicked in.

Unable to understand what we were doing or maybe just trying to figure out how he could defend his pokemon, David said nothing but did make a few hand gestures to his pokemon.

What David couldn't see was that the yellow see nodules on the back of my pokemon had begun to glow. The sparse clouds in the sky began to gather above the field to cause a noticeable temperature drop. A light breeze appeared and steadily built into a solid wind strong enough to ruffle our clothes. As the wind grew in intensity it began to carry leaves in from outside the arena. They swirled around the field and settled into a holding pattern around Sceptile. As the leaves came close to the energies Overgrow was giving off they would glow green.

I looked around my pokemon and fixed David with a look. Leaves were now beginning to appear out of the glowing seed nodules.

"The black wind howls…"

David's eyes went wide as he recognized the quote. "Vlad, flash cannon!"

It was too late though.

The silver beams slammed into a wall of glowing green leaves, leaving Sceptile unscathed. The leaves had multiplied until it was impossible to have an unimpeded view of the pokemon controlling them. They spun around the grass-type pokemon in a cyclone that was rapidly growing with intensity.

"Finish it!" I roared. "Leaf storm!"

"SCEP-"

Sceptile threw its hands into the air. The storm of leaves rushed into the air, gather more leaves from both Sceptile and the outside.

"-TILE!"

Sceptile slammed its hands down and the glowing leaves made an arching turn to aim right at Vlad.

"Brace yourself!" David screamed over the wind. "Hide in your shell!"

By the time the words were out of his mouth, the glowing leaves were already pounding into the blastoise. Vlad was already falling to the ground when it pulled its head and limbs inside of its shell.

"SCEPTILE!"

The storm build in ferocity. Vlad was completely shrouded in leaves, cut off from the rest of the world.

I felt the wind began to lessen. The flow of leaves from Sceptile's back began to temper. The clouds let the sun pierce them to give the true indication that the storm had passed. As the last leaves emerged from Sceptile's nodes, the glow faded. Overgrow extinguished and the waves of green energy with it. All that was left was Sceptile still hunched over, breathing heavily, and Vlad still hidden away in its shell.

Sceptile dropped down to one knee. It was the moment of truth. All of Sceptile's energy had been used up in a once in a lifetime leaf storm. If Vlad had somehow survived this attack, there was no way Sceptile would be able to defend itself.

The shell stirred.

Blue limbs and a head slowly appeared. Vlad got its knees under itself and planted its big arms on the ground. It gave a big push in an effort to get back up.

Vlad collapsed back to the ground.

"Vlad is unable to battle!" the ref screamed, running onto the field. "Vlad is unable to battle! Sceptile is the winner! Victory to the red trainer!"

The crowd went ballistic.

I was overwhelmed with emotion as I dropped to my knees. I wanted to laugh, cry and scream all at the same time. Getting myself together, I got back up and walked onto the field. Sceptile looked up at me with a weak smile and stood. The pokemon offered me a raised hand. I grasped it and pulled the pokemon into a hug.

"Proud of you," I told the pokemon over the ruckus the crowd was still making.

Stooping a bit, I looped Sceptile's arm over my shoulders and we made for David. He was crouched down in front of his pokemon, speaking to it softly. We waited a respectful distance away until they had finished. When David rose, he came over and extended his hand.

"Hell of a battle," he said, clearly upset but trying not to show it.

"Same to you." I shook the offered hand. I tilted my head to address Vlad. "You too, Vlad. You are a beast."

Vlad groaned and offered a small smile.

"What are you going to do now?" I asked. "Are you sticking around? I could use your help preparing for the next round."

David looked away. It was a long moment before he responded. "I don't know. It's painful to come this close and not make it, and every time I look at you I'm reminded of it." He paused. "I won't promise that I will… but I definitely wouldn't rule it out either. It'll depend on… stuff."

I gave him a solemn nod. "That's all I can ask for."

A small smile formed on his features and David turned away. He tossed me a small wave over his shoulder as he collected his pokemon and left the field.

I gave Sceptile a small nudge. "Come on, buddy. Let's go get you and everyone else healed up."

On my way off the field, I was accosted by a horde of reporters. As much as I didn't want to talk to them, I knew I had no choice. I did my best to explain how Sceptile's leaf storm had worked and why I had waited until that moment to use it. I expressed regret at my pokemon management, hindsight making me realize that I could've had Heracross available if I had switched to Gengar sooner. When they started talking about the next match was my cue to leave. The press had seemingly finally figured out that I wouldn't talk about future matches and let me leave.

It wasn't until I got into the locker room did the full gravity of my situation sink in. I collapsed in a chair and just laughed. With a shaky hand, I wiped a single tear away. A year ago, I had left home for essentially the first time.

Now I was one battle away from being named Pokemon League Tournament Champion.


	61. Chapter 60

It took me a few minutes to gather myself and reign in my emotions.

Then my mom called.

You'd think from how much she was crying that I'd already won the tournament. I managed to talk her down eventually to the point where she kept repeating how she'd been wrong in not wanting me to leave and how proud she was. My dad was much more composed. He simply just told me he was proud of me. I could almost hear him rolling his eyes as he said he had to go tend to Mom.

Waiting outside the lockers for me was a pair of event staffers. Not normal staffers though, these two guys looked like they spent a lot of time in the gym. When I tried to walk away they would follow. Apparently now that I was in the Finals, I was considered a VIP. They wouldn't go get me things but they would follow me around and keep me safe.

One of them said if I won the whole thing they'd go get me stuff which seemed fair.

With only myself and the two trainers in the other semifinal match the only remaining active participants, the pokemon center was empty save for the nurse. She and I made small talk while I waited for the machine to heal my pokemon. She kept stealing side glances at me when the conversations faltered. I couldn't figure out why for a while, then it finally dawned on me: I could probably be considered a celebrity now.

It was a thought that rocked me both literally and figuratively.

I didn't know where I sat on the list of youngest trainers to ever make the Tournament Finals but I did recall it being mentioned that there were more rookie trainers advancing further than they had in previous years. While I had been trying to avoid television for the most part these past few days, I knew how the sports shows operated. There was no way they weren't making a big deal about it. Presumably I'd have to give some interviews tomorrow morning which would expand my recognition even more.

The chime from the healing machine broke my train of thought. The nurse gave me back my pokemon and then blushed. She hesitated for only a moment and then blurted out that she wanted my autograph. I was floored. This wasn't some girl my age that might just think I was cute despite still being kind of sweaty, she was probably old enough to be my mother. After recovering my wits I signed an extra event program she had sitting around.

I was apparently going to have to practice my cursive.

I directed my tiny entourage to the food courts next. There was a short line in front of the nacho cart I chose and this time no one recognized me. I decided that was how I liked it.

Before I could ask, one of my escorts informed me that no, they would also not carry my things around for me either.

While I wasn't sure how I felt about being recognized by strangers now, I was totally on board with how my escorts got me to the area reserved for trainers in the stands. We went through numerous areas and doors that would have normally been off limits to me and everyone else. It was certainly easier than trying to force our way through the crowds that were making their way back to their seats.

Once a trainer was eliminated from the tournament, their passes still allowed them access to the seating area reserved for trainers until the end of the stage. So essentially if you made it past the elemental fields, you had a free pass to watch the rest of the tournament even if you were eliminated. Many of them left shortly after being eliminated, not being able to stomach watching others battle in spots that could've been theirs. However a fair amount had stuck around because hey, it was free.

I was attempting to shovel my nachos into my mouth before the camera inevitably discovered I was there when a group of trainers noticed me and moved over to talk.

The biggest topic of conversation was the leaf storm that Sceptile had summoned. I told them while I had an idea that it was going to be big, I had no idea that the grass pokemon was going to do that. Sceptile had learned the move previous to the match and I had decided to keep it in my back pocket until I need it to deliver an extra powerful and unexpected blow. I planned to keep the attack in Sceptile's arsenal but didn't expect it to deliver such spectacular results again.

I managed to finish off my nachos just as the participants for the final match were coming onto the field. There was now at least one camera focused on me that I could see and hopefully it hadn't been on when I forced that last chip in my mouth. Bruce Buffer returned to the field and did his introductions again. I had to admit, he really added something to the match. The man knew how to get a crowd pumped up.

The match itself was an evenly matched, brutal slugfest. I found myself cheering for one trainer over the other but the second trainer made it hard not to like her. She kept producing pokemon that I either hadn't seen live before or hadn't seen in a long time, like a probopass. With her rapid-paced changing style, she had shown all six of her pokemon before either trainer had lost their third.

During the brief intermission, an event staffer approached me. I figured that it might have something to do with things I had to do tomorrow. Instead, the staffer was delivering a message from somewhere higher up in the League office. Someone wanted me to stop openly rooting for one trainer over another because it would show that I'd rather face one over the other.

I didn't understand and said as much.

The guy just shrugged and repeated the message.

I paused for a long second and then said, "You know what? No. No, I won't stop openly cheering. I'm going to cheer for whoever I damn well please! You can't dictate who I cheer for!"

I was getting louder and I knew it but I was pissed. They didn't own me.

"Tell whoever sent this message that this is America! I can root for whoever I want! You know what? I would rather face one of them over the other! There, I said it! Tell your boss that in America we have the freedom of speech and I'll support whomever I want!"

The outburst had been too much and the idea of apologizing to the guy flickered across my mind. He was just he messenger after all. I started to get to my feet when something strange happened: all the trainers around me began to chant.

"U-S-A! U-S-A!"

I turned to see them all standing and pumping their fists as they chanted. The chant spread to the surrounding sections, those people not even understanding why they were chanting. The chant grew louder as more sections picked it up. Suddenly the whole stadium was chanting for America. I could only imagine how confused both the trainers in the match were since they were both Americans.

I leaned closer to the staffer. "Hey, sorry. That got out of hand. But seriously, I'm going to root for who I want to. I'm not trying to be a jerk but nobody owns me. Tell whoever sent you that if they want to talk, they should come do it themselves.

The staffer nodded. "I thought it was dumb anyway. The guy's a prick anyway. He's a PR guy who thinks he runs the world."

With that issue cleared up, I shook the staffer's hand and he departed.

The USA chant was starting to fade when I turned around to look at my fellow trainers. They hadn't even known what the exchange had been about but had jumped to my aid in a peculiar, yet effective way. The solidarity amongst trainers was more powerful than I had realized.

I caught the eye of one of the trainers and cocked my head. "You seem to be confused."

Zakhar Volchenkov gave me a huge smile. "Who can resist a good chant? Besides, America is my adopted country."

I shook my head at the Russian and settled back in for the second half of the match.

The second half of the match was even better than the first. Or maybe I thought so because the trainer I was rooting for won to make him my next opponent. He stood in the center of the field and celebrated with his remaining pokemon.

An impulse washed over me and before my League escorts had noticed, I was already heading down to the lowest rows of the stands. Before they could stop me I hopped over the railing. I landed a little funny but the cameras hadn't noticed me yet as far as I could tell. It was nothing I couldn't walk off. My escorts yelled for me to stop but I ignored them and strode out onto the field. The crowd, which had already been going nuts, kicked it up another notch.

The trainer didn't realize I was there until I said over the crowd, "One of us has to win and the other just has to do well. Wasn't that it?"

Surprised, he spun around and grinned. "Yeah, that was the deal."

"Where are we going?" I asked. I waved a hand around to indicate the arena. "We already made it here."

Dylan's grin got bigger. "I've always wanted to go to Europe."

League staffers and PR people had ushered us off the field and into an unused conference room. There they ran down some of the information we'd need to know for the final match.

The epic final clash of Dylan versus Tim would take place at eight o'clock Sunday evening which sounded way better than saying tomorrow night. By way of the League's contract with CBS we'd have to deal with a lot of cameras. We would still have the same fields we had used the night before to train but camera crews would follow us around during our training for a minimum of two hours, longer if we allowed it. Sunday morning we would both have to do sit-down interviews for about an hour or so. We consented to doing a short one together as well.

We were each also told to create a short list of songs that we might like to use for our introductions. One of the PR men explained that we would be kept in the back until our songs played and we made our way to the battlefield, much like professional fighters or professional wrestlers did. The theory was that it would help establish a "brand" for each of us by immediately associating a song with us. Each of us jotted a few songs down for the man.

After a few more minor details, we were released.

"So how 'bout this shit?" Dylan said outside the conference room. "Here we are, just one day away from one of us being crowned the Tournament Champion."

I leaned against a wall. "Yeah, who'd have thought it? Hell, I wouldn't have believed it if you told me."

"Sometimes I still don't believe it. Sometimes I wonder if we did die in that canyon before the Sanctuary was opened and this is just Heaven."

I slugged him in the air.

"Hey!" he recoiled, not in pain but in surprise. "What was that?"

"Just checking. You're real."

He punched me in the shoulder. "You too."

I punched him back and he punched me again. For just a moment, we kids again.

The moment passed and I sighed. "Well, better go get back to the grind. I've got asses to kick tomorrow."

Dylan snorted. "Yeah, right."

There was a silence.

"Good luck buddy." Dylan stuck his hand out.

"You too." I took it and we pulled into a quick hug.

Now with the feelings out of the way, we could figure out how to defeat each other.

I spent the first hour of my training session simply walking amongst my pokemon. They were all out of their poke balls, milling about on the rock field. The camera crew that had been assigned to me was lurking in the stands as they attempted to get some good shots. As long as they were quiet I didn't mind them. I might even let them stay for a bit when the actual training began.

Perching myself on a rock, I started to organize my thoughts and assemble my strategy.

Unlike with David where essentially all his pokemon were candidates to be on his team, I could essentially pencil in a large chunk of Dylan's team. I would bet all my money that his four of his selections would be Feraligatr, Typhlosion, Venusaur and Electivire. Although I didn't have the same level of certainty, I would still be a large chunk of money that his fifth selection would be Gyarados.

That still left the sixth spot and that's the spot that worried me.

Dylan had a number of options that he could insert into that final spot and it was a varied group that he had. There was Dustox who could wield everything from flying-type moves to psychic-type moves despite being a bug-type itself. Gliscor had made a number of appearances lately and its dual flying/ground-type could be a match-up issue. Then there were his steel-types, Excadrill the part ground and Scizor the part bug. Of course there was his lone fighting-type, Croagunk and his only rock-type, Gigalith. He technically had a ghost-type as well in Golett but he hadn't used it lately.

There was really no way to prepare for them all so I decided there was no point in worrying about it. Dylan could worry about matching up with me. Now all that was left was for me to decide on my team. Like Dylan, I was also fairly predictable. Going into a big match there was no chance I would be caught without Charizard, Sceptile and Heracross. Combine that with the fact that Raichu and Swampert had become my powerhouses of their particular types and predicting my first five was a cinch.

Again, it came down to that sixth spot.

I easily had as many options as Dylan did. There was Haxorus which offered the rare dragon-type and its limited counters or Krookodile and its unique ground/dark-type offerings. Then there was Butterfree or my other pokemon that hadn't debuted in the tournament yet. Not to mention Gengar and Sandslash, both of who had served me well in their last matches. My thoughts drifted back in time and I wished that I still had the mighty fire dragon Reshiram to call to my aid. I grinned at the thought of Dylan's face if I sent it into do battle. It occurred to me that if Reshiram had returned to me, Zekrom would most definitely be with him as well. That prospect was significantly less appealing. With that idea already defeated, I turned my thoughts back to the pokemon I did have.

It wasn't until I lifted my eyes away from the rocky terrain did I realize my answer was staring me right in the face. It was honestly pretty hard to miss.

_ The host of PokemonCenter, the leading news show on ESPN-Pokemon turned to Gary Oak. "So you seem to be the only one of our panel that isn't surprised that we have two rookie trainers facing off against each other for the championship. That hasn't happened in over twenty years but you aren't surprised." The host waved his hand to encompass the other three panel members. "Enlighten us."_

_ Gary paused to collect his thoughts. He knew more about these two trainers than he was letting on. He knew they had been right in the thick of the battle for the Pokemon Sanctuary. With his own eyes he had seen them along with their friend command dragon pokemon of immense power that he had never even conceived existed. Gary would've very much liked to share these facts with these idiots who were trying to demean Tim and Dylan. The host and one of the other panel members had never even been trainers yet had somehow collected the title of "expert". However, not everything had been sorted out with the Sanctuary incident. Law enforcement was still requesting that the trainers involved not be identified for a little longer._

_ "I…" The grandson of Professor Oak pursed his lips as he struggled with how to say what he knew without saying it. "I have some experience with these trainers. From before they battled me for a badge, I mean. From what I know of them- if you knew what I knew… well, let's just say you wouldn't be surprised either."_

_ "Can you expand on that a little further?" asked the host who had been clashing with Gary since the tournament had begun and they had shared a camera. "That's pretty vague."_

_ "It is but…" Gary trailed off. He'd had enough of this. He made a snap decision and slapped the table they were seated at with his palm. "Those two kids and their other friend, David, have seen more action than trainers twice their age. If you threw them up against anyone else in the world with the exception of the League Champion, I'm taking Tim, Dylan or David."_

_ There was the awkward pause that every live show feared as the other panel members digested Gary's bold statement. It was said with such conviction that there could be no doubt that Gary truly believed what he was saying. It also began the churning of gears as they tried to decipher the true facts behind the words._

_ Gary wasn't finished though. "You can talk about how it's so rare and hasn't been done in so many years but I'm here to say, who cares? Don't bury these guys just because they're young. We're about to get a new champion and I hope to Hell that whoever wins this takes on the Elite Four and the League Champion." He pointed his finger first at the other panel members, the host and then finally the camera that was focused on him. "I'm warning you: do NOT bury these kids. We are witnessing the rise of the next generation of pokemon along with the next generation of great trainers. It's a brave new world out there and you aren't going to want to miss it."_


	62. Chapter 61

"Fighting out of the red corner, he is a professional rookie making his League debut. He is the champion of the East bracket! Fighting out of Grand Rapids, Michigan!" Bruce Buffer was already pointing and whirling, getting the crowd pumped up. He dragged my name out for a full ten seconds before it was swallowed up by the roar of the crowd.

I paced the box traced out in red paint along the edge of the field as Dylan was introduced in a similar fashion, along with being named the champion of the West bracket. I hadn't even known that that was a thing. I made a point to not look up at the crowd, specifically the group of people set right at the mid-field point in the front rows. On the right side of the field sat my parents, grandparents and all the aunts, uncles and cousins from both sides that could make the trip. The left side held a similar group of Dylan's family.

Between the fingers of my right hand I rotated two miniaturized poke balls. The team had long ago been decided and locked in but the order was still up for debate. The first pokemon was crucial and might not determine the winner but could really set the tone.

Buffer finished his introductions and the crowd turned to the wheel with the colored wedges. I continued to pace until I heard the crowd roar. A quick glance told me that I'd be sending out the first pokemon. The ref gave me a short nod to get things going.

"Right." I slid one of the balls back into my holster. "The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner; now I am the master."

The possible replies seemed to flick passed his eyes. He settled on, "It didn't go particularly well the last time you said that to me."

I hid a frown. The fact that he hadn't finished the Star Wars quote was extremely telling. Even more so was that he didn't follow it up with a light, humorous comment.

"Yeah, well, I've come along ways since then," I said.

"So have I. You may get more face time than me, but I've been everywhere you've been and done everything you've done." He paused. "What's more, you've never beat me."

There it was. The line had been drawn in the sand.

Our friendship was on hold for this match.

"There's a first time for everything," I muttered and it sounded lame even to my ears. "Heracross, go!"

"Electivire, go!"

Dylan's choice made sense to me. Electricity was not an element that trouble me much. Outside of Charizard's flying-type, electricity was neutral or ineffective against the rest of my team. Electivire and it's access to a wide variety of attacks made for a good pokemon to get a feel for my team.

"Heracross, stone edge!"

"Thunder!"

The sharp rocks spun to life and launched out at Electivire. Electivire pumped its fists and threw out its chest. Lightning erupted out of the pokemon and ripped through the stone edge, using up all its energy to detonate the rocks and shower the field with loose gravel.

"Now Electivire, thunder punch!"

"Megahorn!"

Electivire hauled one arm back, the forearm glowing yellow as it leapt at my pokemon. Heracross shot forward as white energy coated its horn. Electivire slammed its first forward. The two pokemon were held in place by their energies for just a moment before Heracross overwhelmed its opponent. Electivire's punch was knocked aside and Heracross drove its horn into the electric pokemon's gut to send it flying back. Electivire managed to flip a complete three-hundred and sixty degrees in the air, landing hard on two feet but still traveling backwards. It drove a hand into the ground and it quickly slowed leaving three long ruts in the field.

Dylan pointed at the ground. "Earthquake!"

Hefting its free hand, Electivire punched the ground with tremendous force. The shockwave rippled across the field to nearly knock me down. I yelled to Heracross as I fought for balance and the pokemon used its wings to clear off the ground.

"Thunder!"

Electivire pulled its hands from the ground and shoved them into the air. A surge of lightning erupted from its body and focused into a single blast that emanated from its palms. I realized I had followed Dylan's script exactly as the strike of lightning blasted my pokemon out of the sky.

"Use close combat!" I shouted.

Heracross managed to pull out of the tailspin it was in. It rocketed towards Electivire and drove an elbow into its gut to double the pokemon over. Reversing directions, the bug pokemon spun around backwards and drove its over elbow into the back of its opponent's head. Electivire crashed to the ground where Heracross delivered a vicious kick to the abdomen.

"Grab it and use thunder!" Dylan ordered.

I was watching Electivire's hands and apparently Heracross was too. It was the wire tails that snaked out and wrapped themselves around Heracross's wrist. Electivire exploded with lightning and the tails provided a conduit right into my pokemon.

Heracross screamed.

"Keep up close combat!" I roared over the crackling of electricity. "Throw it!"

Heracross managed to focus and clamped down on the two wires. It pivoted and suddenly the two tails were over one shoulder. A tremendous heave and Electivire came flying over top of Heracross and crashed down hard. The lightning ceased.

"Heracross, return!" I commanded. "Swampert, go!"

To my surprise, Dylan didn't switch pokemon. "Electivire, ice punch!"

The precise strike knocked Swampert's big head to the side. By the time Electivire was bringing in the second punch I'd recovered. Swampert swept up a big arm and deflected the ice punch using hammer arm.

"Ice beam!"

The jets of icy energy slammed into Electivire and drove it backwards against its own will. A thin layer of frost now coated the pokemon.

"Electivire, return!" Apparently Dylan had reached his tipping point with his electric pokemon. "Venusaur, go!"

The green-skinned pokemon let out a low rumble. I had never much cared for this pokemon even back when it was a bulbasaur. It had always been kind of a jerk. When Dylan had first captured it, it had immediately tried to beat up on the bulbasaur I had also just caught. When my steelix had been an onix unable to use any attacks, the grass pokemon had made fun of it and physically assaulted it. Essentially we had never liked each other and we were finally about to settle up.

I pointed at Venusaur. "You know, someone's been waiting a long time for this."

Venusaur rumbled again and Dylan cocked his head slightly.

"Not me though." I withdrew Swampert from the field. "Someone else."

I waited a moment for the suspense to build. Dylan didn't seem to have a clue. Venusaur didn't either. Then as I plucked a poke ball from my belt, something seemed to occur to the plant pokemon.

"The time has come!" I announced as I hefted the ball underhand into the air.

Steelix's roar was deafening.

Venusaur actually took a few steps backwards. No doubt the incident in New York when it had been rather cruel to my pokemon was now playing through its head.

I waited for the pokemon's eyes to find me before I said, "Karma's a bitch, isn't it? Steelix, flash cannon!"

A white orb appeared in Steelix's gaping mouth and exploded into a silvery beam. The beam detonated against Venusaur to send it bouncing away.

"Iron tail!"

The bottom third of Steelix lit up white. It swung its body around to smash the glowing part down on Venusaur. The plant pokemon was more spry than it looked and rolled back to its feet and jumped clear. Steelix reloaded and swung the tail again. It wasn't a direct hit but still close enough to send Venusaur flying.

"Venusaur, use leaf storm!"

From the center of Venusaur's yellow flower blasted out a funnel of glowing green leaves. The funnel pounded into my pokemon and began pushing it back. Steelix, however, was not to be denied. It swung another iron tail but instead of coming down from above, it came in from the side. Venusaur crashed into the wall with a satisfying sound to leave a rather impressive dent.

"Venusaur, return!" Dylan ordered. The grass-type pokemon was dazed but I had to assume no where near being defeated. It was just unable to deal with the sheer rage that Steelix was projecting. "Typhlosion, go!"

I wasn't overly familiar with Dylan's fire-type. I had been there at Professor Oak's when it had evolved from a quilava but hadn't interacted with it much since then. The fire that erupted from behind its slumped shoulders cast a red shine to its normally dark blue fur that ran down its back. I knew enough to not take it lightly.

"Steelix, use flash cannon!"

"Flamethrower!"

Blasts of fire and silver energy collided and exploded into a massive fireball.

"Use dig!"

Steelix dove for the ground and quickly disappeared beneath it. Typhlosion was smart enough to not stay in one spot. It began shuffling around the field in an effort to make itself harder to hit. Some things are easier said than done and Steelix erupted out of the ground just below Typhlosion, sending the pokemon flying.

"Focus blast!" Dylan shouted.

Typhlosion landed hard but twisted around and as it rose back up onto its hind legs, the familiar light blue orb had already come into being between its front paws. The fire pokemon lunged forward and shoved the attack out. It slammed into Steelix, the force of the detonation knocking my pokemon to the ground.

"Iron tail!"

A steelix didn't have to be fully upright to swing its tail as Typhlosion found out the hard way. The impact swept the fire pokemon off its feet and deposited just outside the lines of the battlefield.

"Flamethrower!"

Typhlosion pushed itself up on all fours as the flames on its back grew in height. A rush of fire burst from the pokemon's mouth and slammed into Steelix who roared in pain.

"Steelix, return!" I ordered. "Charizard, let's go!"

I could and would match fire types with anyone. It was just up to Dylan if he wanted to try the same. He didn't. Typhlosion was removed from the field quickly.

"Feraligatr, let's go!"

There was a momentary pause as the two of us took in the moment. It was the first time that these two pokemon had been on the field together as opponents. They had battled side by side before but never against one another.

It didn't last long. "Charizard, return! Go, Raichu!"

This is where the layouts of both Dylan and my teams became a bit of an issue. Each of us carried an identical base of fire, water, grass and electricity. That only left two apiece that were presumably different. Our types were so similar and all countered one another that it was going to be hard to keep pokemon on the field for long periods of time when we could just keep switching to another one with a more favorable type.

"Feraligatr, return! Electivire, come on back!"

I frowned at this. I was hoping to possibly find out what Dylan's final pokemon was. Instead I got Electivire who could absorb all my raichu's electric attacks without damage and get a speed boost. Luckily, Raichu had more than just electric attacks.

"Raichu, brick break!"

Something clicked in my memory half a second before Dylan shouted, "Earthquake!"

Electivire slammed open palms against the ground. The shockwave pounded into Raichu, lifted it off its feet and leaving it at the mercy of the trembling ground. It took me two tries but I managed to get it back in its poke ball.

"Steelix, let's go!"

Electivire's red eyes went wide as it recognized my pokemon. The electric pokemon had been the accomplice of Dylan's then Bulbasaur in picking on my pokmeon when it was still an onix. Dylan removed the pokemon from the field before I could even shout my first attack.

He waited for a moment. Then announced, "Gyarados!"

Either my steelix was on the smaller side or Dylan's gyarados was on the larger size because Steelix didn't have as much of a height/length advantage as I would have thought. Instead of about ten feet separating their size, it was more like three or four. It was probably for the best though since the two pokemon took up a vast majority of the field with their immense bulk.

"Aqua tail!"

"Iron tail!"

Rings of water swirled around Gyardos's tail as it swung to meet Steelix's glowing white tail. The two tails smashed against each other and the two pokemon struggled to overpower one another. Sparks and bolts of static shot out from where the energies of the attacks threatened to unbalance. Finally they overloaded and the two pokemon were thrown apart.

"Flamethrower!" Dylan shouted.

"Dig!" I responded.

Steelix disappeared underground as a gout of fire slammed into the spot that it had just occupied. Moving with a surprising grace for its size, Gyarados made a snaking motion like it was swimming in water and took to the air. It circled above the field, knowing that its secondary flying-type kept it safe from Steelix's ground-type attack.

I had something else in mind though. "Thunder fang!"

The steel serpent shot out of the ground like a missile. Its gaping jaws and blocky teeth chomped down on Gyardos's midsection. A fierce electric charge ripped through Gyarados. The big water-type tried to respond with a flamethrower but the electricity intensified and the pokemon flinched instead.

"Now use iron tail!" I ordered.

With its jaws still clamped down on Gyarados, Steelix hefted the rest of its body. Unable to cope with the excess weight Gyarados began to descend. Steelix swung itself around and slammed its tail into Gyarados's head. The impact sent the two pokemon crashing to the ground. Over a thousand pounds of pokemon make for quite a crash. Even though they weren't all that high they left a sizeable crater in the field.

"Flamethrower!" Dylan roared.

From the tangle of pokemon, Steelix was ejected by a stream of fire that caught it just underneath the jaw. It was tipped up and fell backwards, damaging the field even more. Instead of the nice smooth field, it now resembled more of the craggy features of the rock-type fields we had battled on earlier in the tournament.

"Gyarados, return! Go, Venusaur!"

"Let's do this, Steelix!" I yelled as my pokemon rose back to its full height and shook off the impact of the last attack. "Iron tail!"

"Frenzy plant!"

Venusaur let out a roar as a green aura outlined it. The ground trembled as it rose up and slammed its front legs down. Huge roots of a brownish hue erupted out of the ground. I counted at least six, if not more, of the spike covered things. They shot high into the sky and then made a sharp turn to start pounding into Steelix. Each one would smash against my pokemon, retract slightly and then do it again. Steelix roared as the huge roots worked like pistons to pound against it. My pokemon crashed to the ground where it moaned in pain.

"Steelix, return!" I ordered in an effort to preserve what strength the pokemon had left. "Charizard, go!"

A year ago I wouldn't have known what to do here. Hell, a year ago I probably didn't even know what Frenzy Plant was. I reflected on that for another moment as I ordered Charizard to roast an immobilized Venusaur with a flamethrower.

"Venusaur, return!" Dylan ordered once his pokemon started moving again. "Feraligatr, go!"

Instead of immediately recalling my pokemon, I shouted, "Focus blast!"

Dylan wasn't expecting it and was slow to react. Feraligatr did its best to get out of the way but it was a bulky pokemon and couldn't get completely out of the way. During the explosion I returned Charizard to its ball and sent out Sceptile.

"Leaf blade and hurry!" I shouted.

"Superpower!"

Feraligatr reared back and pulled its arms back while pumping out its chest. Muscles bulged to incredible proportions before shrinking back to their original size. The water pokemon lunged forward and grabbed Sceptile by the upper arms and immobilizing it completely. Sceptile tried to fight back but was no match for Feraigatr's now massive strength. With a roar, Feraligatr hurled my wailing pokemon into the sky. When Sceptile had reached its peak and began to plummet, Feraligatr launched itself into the sky. Snatching my pokemon out of the sky, Feraligatr used its own weight to increase Sceptile's falling speed and gave it one last shove before it smashed into the ground, Feraligatr leaping free.

"Sceptile!" I yelled.

In response, Sceptile slowly climbed back to its feet. It did not look particularly happy with what had just taken place.

"Leaf storm!"

The bulbs on Sceptile's back turned green and began spewing glowing neon green leaves into the air. The leaves swirled into the air around Sceptile before making a beeline for Feraligatr. The solid wall of leaves ripped across the water-type pokemon and deposited it heavily onto the ground.

"Feraligatr, return!" Dylan ordered. "Go, Typhlosion!"

This time I wasn't taking any chances. "Sceptile, return! Charizard, go!"

There was a moment of hesitation as Dylan and I considered our options. Thus far we had been rapidly switching our pokemon in and out in an effort to gain the type advantage. I had no doubt it was making for poor television but it made sense from a trainer's perspective. There was no way either of us was going to concede the upper-hand as far as types went if we didn't have to.

A pairing of fire-types would have to do for now.

"Flamethrower!" we both yelled in unison.

Fire erupted from the mouths of our pokemon. The flames smashed together, Charizard's overwhelming Typhlosion's before they both exploded and showed the field with falling embers. Fiery smoke swirled around the craggy field making it look as if Hell were trying to form itself right in front of us.

"Shadow claw!" Dylan ordered.

"Focus blast!"

On paper, Charizard and Typhlosion are a lot alike. The stat guys would say that they have the same types, the same abilities and even the same base stats, whatever those were. What the stat guys don't take into account is experience. My charizard has seen way more action that Dylan's typhlosion and it's not even close. Charizard let Typhlosion close the space between them before launching into the air with a mighty flap of its wings. Just out of its opponent's reach, it hurled its glowing orb. Typhlosion was rocked back by the explosion and the shadowy image of the three-fingered claw around its paws dissipated.

"Typhlosion, return!" Dylan knew that in a battle of fire-types he couldn't beat me. Charizard just had too much experience. "Gliscor, let's go!"

I wasn't surprised that Gliscor was Dylan's sixth pokemon because it just made too much sense. It's flying-type gave it an advantage over Heracross and Sceptile and any ground-type moves I might have, while it's ground-type made it immune to Raichu's best attacks.

However, it no resistance to fire which might be a problem for it at the moment.

"Charizard, flamethrower!"

"Stone edge!"

Its tail bounced it into the air like a spring as Gliscor raised its pincer claws into the air and the rocks spun into life. Gliscor sent the rocks flying at the incoming flames as its black wings caught as breeze to carry the pokemon into the air. The rocks buried themselves into the flamethrower to neutralize the two attacks in a blast of molten rock.

"Gliscor, use acrobatics!"

Gliscor swerved around in the air and picked up speed. Suddenly it was moving blindingly fast. It slammed into Charizard going so fast that an after image trailed behind it, giving the illusion that there was a second gliscor flying around. Making a high speed turn, Gliscor came around and slammed into Charizard again.

"Stone edge!"

Gliscor had just rammed through Charizard for a third time when the stones sprang back to life. Charizard whirled around just in time to take the stones right in the gut. The mighty fire pokemon staggered back and fell.

"Poison jab!"

A purple glow swept over Gliscor's pincers and it dove at Charizard.

"Dragon claw!"

A trio of glowing green claws cut through the air in an upward angle and forcibly changed Gliscor's trajectory. Charizard climbed back to its feet just in time for me to return it to its poke ball.

"That'll be enough of that," I said. "Go, Swampert!"

"Earth power!"

Gliscor slammed a claw down into the field. Cracks swam out through the already damaged field with gold light spraying out. One crack went right between all four of Swampert's legs to pound my pokemon with the golden light.

"Ice beam!" I roared.

Essentially unfazed by the ground-type attack, Swampert rose up onto its back legs and spat out the icy bolts of lightning. The bolts coalesced into one beam and pounded into Gliscor. The ice beam carried Gliscor backwards until it slammed the pokemon into a chunk of upraised field.

"Gliscor, return!" Dylan ordered, predictably followed by, "Go Venusaur!"

"Ice beam again!" I shouted. A good solid hit might freeze and put Venusaur out of the match.

"Power whip!"

Huge, glowing purple vines rose out of the stem Venusaur's yellow flower. The ice beam struck Venusaur just as the vines swung down. The glowing vines struck with such ferocity that they drove Swampert's head literally into the ground. If I hadn't just seen Frenzy Plant, it would've been the most powerful grass-type attack I'd ever seen with the possible exception of Leaf Storm.

"Not a good plan," I muttered as I recalled Swampert. Ice beam had done damage but I'd gotten the worse end of the trade. "Let's clean it up, Heracross!"

"Skull bash, Venusaur!"

"What the- aerial ace!"

The ground trembled as Venusaur galloped forward, head lowered and cloaked in white energy. Heracross was in the air but flying low with white energy of a different variety. The two pokemon slammed together in a titanic collision. The two pokemon were ejected away from each other, Venusaur sliding back and leaving ruts in the ground, and Heracross spinning end over end in the air.

"Heracross, stone edge!"

Even before Heracross had stopped its spin, specks of light that quickly turned into sharp stones had begun twirling around the pokemon. The second it had righted itself, Heracross launched the stone edge. Venusaur, not being fleet of foot, simply turned to let the attack strike its flank instead head. It must have diffused some of the damage because the grass-type pokemon had done it instinctually.

"Power whip!" Dylan shouted.

"Get in the air!"

The purple vines smashed apart the ground that Heracross had just occupied. The bug pokemon barely avoided the reach of the vines, launching itself into the air. The vines reached for my pokemon but their range was limited. Heracross continued to drift higher as the Venusaur reeled its vines back in.

"Power whip might not have a lot of range," Dylan admitted with a shrug. "But you know what does? Frenzy plant!"

Venusaur bellowed as a green aura swept over it. It rose up on its hind legs and slammed down the front ones. The ground ruptured as the thorny vines ripped out of it towards Heracross.

"Stone edge!" I yelled, a plan forming quickly.

The sharp edged stones quickly formed and shot towards the vines as Heracross thrust its arms forward. They smashed into the vines, slowing them slightly.

"Now dive and use aerial ace!" I ordered for the next step.

"Close it up!" Dylan figured I was up to something. And he was right.

"Close combat! Keep those vines away!"

Now Heracross was spinning as the white energy bled off its horn. Punches and kicks kept the vines of frenzy plant from crushing my pokemon. Heracross beat itself a path clear as it continued its descent. Suddenly the path was clear. The roots of the vines were too far apart to properly close any further.

Jackpot.

"Megahorn!"

Heracross's whole horn glowed white. The bug pokemon became a streaking meteorite of white energy. Frozen from using frenzy plant, Venusaur could only roar in terror. Heracross plowed into Venusaur and all the energy it had built up gave way. A huge wall of white energy exploded towards the heavens.

As the light faded, a dark figure in the center could be seen rising up.

"Hera-cross!" Heracross bellowed, raising its fists.

"Venusaur is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Heracross is the winner!"

Dylan recalled his pokemon to its ball. He whispered a few words to it before tucking it back into his belt holster. A small nod of admiration was sent my way which I politely returned.

"Gliscor, I choose you! Use acrobatics!"

"Aerial ace!"

What ensued was a high-speed sky battle with each pokemon trying to chase the other while attempting to lose it at the same time. It was almost impossible to keep up with. Although moving slower, Heracross held the advantage of vertical lift. A gliscor technically didn't fly, it glided. A heracross had fully functional wings. A sudden upwards climb combined with a slowing of speed and suddenly Heracross was right above Gliscor.

"Megahorn!"

Heracross' horn lit up. The wings snapped back into the bug pokemon's carapace to turn Heracross into a falling missile. Gliscor tried to dodge but the x-shape of Heracross's horn slammed into Gliscor's lower body right where the tail fused into the hips. The two pokemon plummeted and crashed to the ground, delivering devastating damage despite the bug-type move being less effective.

"Earthpower!"

Gliscor's tail lifted and then slammed down into the ground. The cracks that spewed the golden energy swept out and beneath Heracross. The golden energy pounded into my pokemon and knocked it away from the downed pokemon, and killed the momentum we had just started to build.

"Poison jab!"

The tail that was buried in the ground flexed and lifted Gliscor's entire body out of the hole it had been put in, rising up like some nightmare creature. It dove at Heracross as the purple glow washed over its pincer claws. Gliscor slammed the first claw into my pokemon's gut and then swung the other upwards and knocking my pokemon back.

"Let's show them how to really fight," I called. "Close combat!"

Heracross side-stepped the next poison jab. The bug pokemon latched onto the exposed arm and spun around to drive Gliscor into the ground with an arm bar. Heracross wrenched the aim at an awkward angle but failed to account for Gliscor's tail. The heavy tail clubbed Heracross across the back to clear it away enough for the owner of said tail to get back to its feet.

Now back and standing, Gliscor was met with a hard punch right between its yellow eyes. Heracross grabbed Gliscor's big ears and yanked the pokemon's head down as it drove its knee up. There was a sickening noise as the ground/flying pokemon's head snapped back. It responded by bouncing back forward and whacking Heracross across the face with a poison jab. Heracross staggered but came back with a huge uppercut that lifted Gliscor completely off the ground.

Which was apparently what Dylan was waiting for. "Acrobatics!"

That little bit of lift was all Gliscor had needed. In the blink of an eye, the fang scorpion pokemon was swooping through the air and wrecking my pokemon with a series of flying-type strikes. Being doubly super-effective, they were really doing serious damage that had yet to be inflicted on my pokemon.

"Stone edge!"

Gliscor was moving to fast for its own good. Heracross had only formed the rocks and didn't even need to launch them because Gliscor rammed right into a large number of them as it tried to sneak in one last strike. Spinning wildly out of control, Gliscor crashed down hard. Heracross lifted its arms up and then threw them forward to launch the rest of its stones. Gliscor tried to rise but was battered back down.

"Finish it!" I yelled, thinking of one of my favorite fighting games. "Megahorn!"

The glowing horn slammed into Gliscor's chest and picked it off the ground before slamming it through an upraised piece of field. A pincer lifted shakily as Gliscor let out a groan before collapsing back into its bed of rubble.

"Gliscor is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Heracross is the winner!"

I felt a surge of pride as I watched Dylan return his pokemon to its ball. Two of Dylan's pokemon had been defeated and I had yet to suffer a loss. Granted the two pokemon I had downed were the two pokemon that concerned me the least but I was still flying high.

"Don't feel too good about yourself." It was like Dylan was reading my mind. "There's still a lot of battle to go."

There was a pause and then he said the thing we were both thinking. "Remember, you still have never beat me."

"There's a first time for everything."

"Maybe… maybe not. Typhlosion, go!"

"Strike now, Heracross! Stone edge!"

Maybe I'd been baited into it. Maybe if Dylan hadn't reminded me that I'd never beat him I would've been more focused on the here and now. I might've noticed just how tired my heracross was and that launching a quick attack was not in the cards. It didn't matter though, all that mattered was that it happened. The stones had just become physical entities when Typhlosion's flamethrower washed over Heracross, lifting it off its feet and slamming it back down.

"Heracross is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Typhlosion is the winner!"

And just like that, my good feeling began to melt away. I grasped at the fading wisps of it, focusing on the idea that I was still up in the numbers game with most of my heavy hitters still available. The feeling didn't fade completely.

"Good work, Heracross. Swampert, let's finish the job!"

To my surprise, Dylan didn't switch pokemon. Despite the massive type disadvantage Typhlosion had, the fire-type pokemon remained on the field. The flames that were burning along it shoulder line burned intensely. They went from red to white and I figured it was building up for a massive fire attack, possibly overheat. It seemed peculiar but whatever.

"Swampert, hydro pump!" As long as I didn't know what Typhlosion was doing, I wasn't sending my pokemon near it.

The crystalline water slammed into Typhlosion who had made no effort to avoid it in any matter. It braced itself and did everything it could just to stay upright. It made no sense but it wasn't my pokemon getting pounding by a super-effective move, so whatever.

"Solar beam!" Dylan roared.

The white glow in Typhlosion's mouth matched the fire on its back. The huge beam cut right through the hydro pump, sending two waves of water crashing down to either side. Swampert never saw it coming. The white beam of grass-type energy crashed into Swampert, bowling it over backwards and exploding.

"Holy shit!" I yelled. "Swampert, are you ok?"

"Charge it up again!" Dylan ordered as Swampert stirred. "It's not over yet!"

"Get up Swampert! Let's end this!"

Swampert let out a roar and pushed itself unsteadily back to its feet. Typhlosion had to be about done charging up its solar beam. I quickly weighed my options.

"Earthquake!" Swampert rose up and slammed its big fists into the ground.

"Solar beam!" Typhlosion's white glow moved from its flames to its mouth.

Typhlosion let loose with its solar beam just seconds before the first shockwave of the earthquake struck it. The fire pokemon was flung backwards as the tremors slammed into it. A short blast of solar beam ripped across the field. It slammed into Swampert and detonated.

It took a moment for things to settle down, for the smoke to clear and the ground to finish trembling.

"Swampert and Typhlosion are both unable to battle!" the ref declared as both our pokemon lay prone on their backs. "It's a draw! The green trainer has lost three pokemon, therefore we will have a five minute break!"


	63. Chapter 62

"Let's do this!" Dylan yelled after our break that had seemed so short yet seemed to drag on forever. "Electivire!"

I hid a scowl as I returned Raichu to my holster. Dylan had three pokemon left and two of them were water-types. I probably should've figured that he'd start off with the odd one out. With only a moment's hesitation, I swapped my electric-type pokemon out for one that would pack a bit more punch.

"Steelix, let's go!"

Emotions flickered across Dylan's face though he did his best to hide them. Steelix was a poor match-up for Electivire but strategically it made sense to keep Electivire on the field. The only type advantage it would hold would be over my charizard but with two water-types waiting in the wings it made more sense to try and soften up Steelix for them. Electivire seemed to know this as well. It turned its rotund body and held up a fist at Dylan, not in a menacing way but as if to say _I got this_.

Dylan nodded. "Electivire, use ice punch!"

"Keep it back, Steelix! Use iron tail!"

Electivire had a distinct speed advantage. Coupled with the fact that it had far less bulk than Steelix, it proved to be a fast target. That bulk that Electivire was missing proved to be more of a blessing for Steelix. Hitting something small isn't especially difficult when your tail is approximately three times as big as your target. Electivire was flinging itself from side to side to avoid the onslaught of iron tails as it slowed made its way closer. Steelix changed tactics and instead of slamming its glowing tail down vertically, it swept it across the field horizontally. Electivire ran towards the tail instead of away from it. The thunderbolt pokemon leapt into the air and crashed atop the tail, scrambling to keep its grip. It righted itself quickly and then clambered up my pokemon eventually breaking into a run. Icy mists swirled its fist as Electivire took another leap and drove its fist into Steelix's jaw, snapping my pokemon's head back. Before it could land another blow, Steelix rolled itself over in a successful attempt to throw Electivire free.

"Flash cannon!" I yelled.

"Block it with thunder!"

As the shimmering orb appeared in Steelix's mouth, the wire tails of Electivire slithered up its arms to wrap themselves around its wrists as it extended its arms out in front of it. The orb in Steelix's mouth exploded out around blocky teeth in a shimmering beam. Thunder erupted from Electivire's hands so violent that it actually pushed the electric pokemon back in its tracks. The two attacks clashed near midfield and erupted with such intensity that everyone near the field was knocked back. The ref and I were barely back to our feet when Electivire let loose with an earthquake that nearly knocked us back down again. Steelix let out a roar as the super-effective quake rippled through it. Electivire raised up its hands in preparation to slam them down for another quake.

"Iron tail!"

The point of Steelix's tail drove into Electivire's chest before it could bring its hands down. It doubled over in pain as it slid backwards gouging out huge ruts in the ground with its feet. As it righted itself, I began to see the futility of this particular match up. Steelix was immune to Electivire's electric attacks which were its best while Electivire itself was resistant to Steelix's steel-type attacks. Sure, Electivire was weak to ground-type moves but the second Steelix used dig Electivire would unleash an earthquake that would be devastating to my subterranean pokemon.

"Looks like we'll have to do this the good, old fashioned way," I said to no one in particular. "Brute force, it is. Crush Electivire with iron tail!"

Steelix let out a roar of acknowledgment and swung its heavy tail down. Electivire had recovered from its last damage and unleashed another huge blast of thunder. Since Steelix was a ground-type it couldn't do any damage but it did prove effective at slowing the descent of the iron tail. Electivire pumped tens of thousands of volts out in an effort to keep from being squished.

"Electivire can only block one thing!" I announced. "Flash cannon!"

Dylan's pokemon was trapped and both Dylan and his pokemon knew it. If Electivire took its efforts away from the iron tail for one iota, it would be crushed. To ignore the now-ready flash cannon would lead to a similar fate. As the silver beam exploded out, Electivire managed to turn back to look at Dylan.

It offered a nod like someone who knew this was the end.

The flash cannon slammed into Electivire and detonated in a massive fireball. The outpouring of lightning began to diminish and the iron tail drove down with furious speed. The field splintered and shattered as Electivire was driven into the earth. As Steelix drew its tail back there was no more lightning.

"Electivire is unable to battle!" the ref declared after he had made it through the wreckage to get a peak at the pokemon. "Steelix is the winner!"

Dylan had words for his pokemon but none for me. No witty barbs, no confident bluster, nothing. His eyes bore into me as he drew his next pokemon from his belt. He was now down to his final two pokemon albeit his two strongest. They had received damage though as had all my pokemon. I was still in control of this match. For now.

"Feraligatr, go!"

This was the pairing I had hoped for. "Steelix, use dig!"

With a quick curving of its body, Steelix disappeared beneath the surface of the field. Surprisingly, Feraligatr seemed nonplussed. It calmly stood there without worry or distress evident.

"Superpower!" Dylan ordered.

Feraligatr reared back as its muscles ballooned to cartoonish proportions before resuming their natural size. Then the water-type pokemon bared its claws and thrust them into the ground. A split-second later Feraligatr actually ripped Steelix from the ground by its jaw and hurled all near-ton of my pokemon into the air. My jaw fell open.

"Hydro cannon!"

Feraligatr's huge jaws opened and a shimmering blue ball began to form. It grew larger as it drew in moisture from the surrounding air. When it Feraligatr launched it, the orb flew out with such velocity that it knocked Feraligatr off balance. The orb slammed into Steelix, detonating in an explosion of water, smoke and a light blue energy. The giant steel snake fell limply back to Earth.

"Steelix is unable to battle!" the ref declared after the aftershocks of Steelix landing had passed. "Feraligatr is the winner!"

I couldn't help but be impressed by the power that Feraligatr had unleashed. Steelix had taken some damage beforehand but Feraligatr knocked it out with ease, delivering maximum damage in just two strikes. To disregard that display would be a fatal flaw.

"Go, Raichu!"

"Feraligatr, use hydro pump!"

"Discharge!"

Raichu lifted its tail and from the tip sprang the crackling web of lightning. I had intended for it to diffuse the hydro pump and then damage Feraligatr. Instead, the blast of water cut right through. It slammed into Raichu to hurl it back across the field.

"Crunch!"

Feraligatr lumbered forward and was hovering over my pokemon in record time. Raichu was still stunned from the previous attack and laying face down, hadn't sensed the arrival of its opponent. The big water-type's teeth glowed white and left traces in the air as they dropped towards Raichu.

My mind scrambled. "Discharge!"

It didn't matter if Raichu didn't know its opponent was right there when discharge extended almost halfway across the field.

Feraligatr roared. Then it continued its descent.

Raichu screamed as Feraligatr big down hard. At my command it switched to using thunder but the bigger pokemon seemed hardly phased by that either. With a snap of neck, it sent Raichu hurtling across the field. Raichu snarled angrily once it had figured out exactly where it was. The electric pokemon swayed noticeably after it had regained its feet. I had seen enough though. As Feraligatr began stomping towards Raichu, I recalled my pokemon.

"Sceptile, finish it up!"

When Sceptile had fully formed on the field, I was struck with a sense of déjà vu. Despite clearly having never been here before the situation seemed familiar. From the way Dylan's head was tilted to the side I was sure he could feel it as well. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth and then at mine as it started to make sense. The last time that Sceptile and Feraligatr had faced each other was in a tournament except they weren't Sceptile and Feraligatr. They had been Treecko and Totodile. Dylan had been left with only two pokemon, the very same two that he had left right now. I still had three, although one had been Mudkip, my final pokemon could have either been my charmander or pichu, the same two that I now had left.

I let out a low chuckle. It just seemed so ridiculous to even think about.

Dylan was grinning in full force now. "Do you remember what you said last time?"

I thought about it and it came to me. I laughed. "I do. How could I forget?"

"Do you remember what you said about it later?"

It took a little longer for that to come to me. "That I'd have to wait until I had a more intimidating pokemon before using that line again."

Dylan simply nodded at Sceptile with incline of his head.

I grinned and threw out my arms. In my best dramatic voice, I bellowed, "Cometh, the Destroyer!"

Dylan laughed. "That's better. Shall we?" He indicated the field.

"Indeed." I took a moment to get my game face back on. "Sceptile, leaf blade!"

"Get ready Feraligatr!"

As Sceptile charged in, a plan formed in my mind. I had tried this once before and Feraligatr had snatched up my pokemon using super power. Sceptile might be tough but it could only endure so many hits like that. Instead of going through with it I devised a new wrinkle in the attack plan.

I waited for Sceptile to get as close as I dared before issuing my next command. "Iron tail!"

Sceptile immediately launched into the air off powerful hind legs. It somersaulted midair to bring its glowing tail down on Feraligatr.

"Crunch!"

Feraligatr lunged. There was a snapping noise as it clamped its jaws onto Sceptile's tail and slammed it to the ground. Being much bigger than my pokemon, Feraligatr could whip it around with ease and demonstrated so.

"Oh, come one!" I yelled, throwing out a hand in protest. "Again?"

Nearly this same scene had played out in our first tournament battle. Sceptile, then Treecko, had been attempting a similar maneuver using pound when Feraligatr, then Totodile, had snatched it out of the air in the same manner. Only now the stakes were bigger and so was Feraligatr. Instead of bouncing up and down with my pokemon it was slamming it from side to side.

"You think you would've learned," Dylan said with a disapproving wag of his finger. "After all this time."

"Maybe I didn't, but Sceptile did." I paused just a split-second for effect. "Leaf storm!"

Being slammed down face first did have one advantage: Sceptile's yellow bulbs were directly facing Feraligatr. They erupted with neon leaves that pounded into Feraligatr with such severity that its jaws loosened and it was thrown back. Sceptile pushed itself up onto all fours as it continued the bombardment. Feraligatr was stumbling back uncontrollably as the super-effective attack continued to barrel into it.

"Hydro cannon!"

Through its stumbling, Feraligatr managed one clear look at Sceptile. It was during that clear look that it fired the shimmering hydro cannon. The orb shot right through the leaves to detonate against Sceptile, tossing my pokemon into the air. It crashed down hard but was quickly back to its feet. Feraligatr remained frozen from having used hydro cannon, a perfect opening.

"Leaf blade!"

Feraligatr was just beginning to shake loose its paralysis when Sceptile struck. If Sceptile hadn't been a full two feet shorter, it probably would've aimed for the head. Instead it had to be satisfied with a powerful slash across Feraligatr's chest that sent the bigger pokemon sprawling backwards.

"Feraligatr, return!" Dylan ordered, attempting to change the narrative from our first battle. "Go, Gyarados!"

I let Sceptile linger on the field for just a moment as Gyarados loomed over it before recalling it. "Go, Raichu!"

Despite the incredible size difference, Raichu showed no fear. It cackled to itself as it dropped down onto all fours, its tail giving on showers of sparks as it snapped from side to side. Gyarados let out a low rumble to let my pokemon that it might want to reconsider its confidence.

"Let's try this again Raichu," I called. "And this time, let's get the right result! Thunder!"

"Flamethrower!"

The blast of lightning leapt from Raichu and slammed into the oncoming gout of fire. They continued to pour into each other until a huge orb began to form. The mass of fire and lightning quickly became unstable and detonated.

"Crush it, Gyarados! Stone edge!"

"Counter with discharge!"

Raichu already had its tail pointed in the air and the web of blue lightning swirled around the in the air. The incoming stones were either knocked askew by the electric attack or in the case of the smaller ones, completely destroyed. Gyarados itself swam backwards in the air to avoid the fringes of the discharge.

"Now!" I yelled. "Thunder!"

The blue lightning faded away as Raichu erupted with a huge lightning bolt. Gyarados may have size but Raichu certainly had the speed. The bolt slammed into Gyarados and encased it in an electrical aura before it could even begin to ready a counter-attack. It writhed around, roaring in agony.

"Crush it!" Dylan shouted for a second time. "Aqua tail!"

Even as it was still encased in lightning, Gyarados swung its tail around. A quartet of streams of water spiraled around the tail as it drove it down at Raichu. Ever stubborn, Raichu refused to give in and continued to pump out voltage. There was a terrible crash as the huge tail slammed down. The electricity that had been tormenting Gyarados vanished. It lifted its tail out of the crater it had made to let the ref get a glimpse of Raichu.

"RAI-CHU!"

Lightning exploded out of the crater, throwing the ref back. Gyarados roared in surprise, anger and pain. It slammed another aqua tail down and the lightning cut off once more. The ref approached again albeit a little more cautiously. He edged his way to the crater and peered over.

This time he made an announcement. "Raichu is unable to battle. Gyarados is the winner!"

It was fitting somehow as I recalled Raichu to leave the battle as a two-on-two. This journey would end the way it had started.

Charmander and Treecko now Charizard and Sceptile.

Totodile and Magikarp now Feraligatr and Gyarados.

Things really had come full circle. The pokemon we had started with would be the pokemon that we ended with. This notion wasn't lost on Dylan as he offered me a small nod of acknowledgment. I retuned Sceptile to the field to make the thought a physical reality.

"Get ready Sceptile," I advised. No doubt Dylan would try to battle with Gyarados for at least a few moments in hopes of buying Feraligatr a little more rest. Gyarados wouldn't be much for battling without some rest of its own though, the pair of thunder attacks that Raichu had unleashed had done some considerable damage.

Sceptile heeded my advice. It slid one foot forward and then pulled its arms back to one side, cupping the claws together at the wrist and only offering the profile of its upper body. The yellow eyes never left Gyarados for a second. Between the claws appeared a spark too small for anyone but those up close like me to see. The claws pulled apart to make room for the growing energy.

Dylan knew that I knew his options but he also knew he had no choice. "Flamethrower!"

"Dragon pulse!"

The spark blossomed into a purple orb of energy. Sceptile thrust its arms and hands forward to launch the dragon-typed attack. The dragon pulse slammed into the flamethrower which bulged at the point of impact and then the two attacks erupted in an ugly purple and orange mess of an explosion.

"Stone edge!"

"Leaf storm!"

Sharpened stones raced to meet spiraling glowing leaves. At first the stones made progress but the sheer number of leaves eventually cut then to shreds and punched through the waning explosion. The leaves pounded into Gyarados who quickly slithered out of target range.

We were locked at an interesting stalemate. Charizard might have had better effect against Gyarados but I couldn't switch to it because Dylan would simply switch to Feraligatr. Gyarados was in need of a rest but Dylan but switching to his Feraligatr would give Sceptile a type advantage that Gyarados's secondary flying-type negated. Something was going to have to give. It was just a matter of who blinked first.

It was Dylan. "Gyarados, return!"

No doubt he was hoping to buy enough time for his gyarados to get some rest. Even just a minute or two of rest inside the poke ball would do wonders for Gyarados. I couldn't let that happen. The next two minutes might determine how this match ended for me.

"Sceptile, leaf blade!"

"Hydro pump!"

Sceptile sprang for spot to spot as it quickly advanced. Feraligatr tried vehemently to blast it but always ended up hitting where my pokemon had just been and unable to accurately predict where it might end up. There was just no matching Sceptile's speed though, especially with the battering Feraligatr had already endured. Sceptile ducked low to the ground to race underneath the last hydro pump before launching itself upwards. The leaf blade dragged all the way up Feraligatr's body, snapping its head back and tossing it backwards. Thrashing and rolling, Feraligatr got off its back and lifted itself on all fours. Sceptile sprang in the reverse direction, wary of the only two attacks Feraligatr had that could cause serious harm.

"Super power!" Dylan yelled, desperation evident in his voice.

"Dragon pulse!"

Pulling its hands back, Sceptile hurled the purple orb at the onrushing water-type. Feraligatr quickly went from racing on four legs to two legs as it charged to let its muscles bulge more freely. With one huge claw still bloated with muscles it smashed the dragon pulse apart. Purple embers fell harmlessly and were trampled by Feraligatr. The swift destruction of its attack caught Sceptile by surprise and it was slow to try evade. That moment of shock was enough for Feraligatr to close the gap and tackle Sceptile to the ground. The two pokemon tumbled over a few times before Feraligatr was on its feet with one hand around Sceptile's throat. It didn't even give the usual grunt of effort as it hurled my pokemon into the sky. Flexing at the knees, Feraligatr launched itself into the sky as well. Feraligatr caught my pokemon as it was at the peak of its ascent and latched onto its back to force it to fall face-first with the extra two-hundred pounds on its back.

The back was where I was hoping Feraligatr would end up. "Sceptile!" I shouted into the air, hopeful my pokemon could hear me over the rushing wind. "Leaf storm!"

I could see a yellow glow between Sceptile and Feraligatr and I knew my pokemon had heard me. There was a mess of green as separation began to form between the two pokemon. Feraligatr was taking the leaf storm point-blank. The water-type never lost its grip and the two pokemon crashed, throwing a cloud of dust and debris in the air. It was a handful of heartbeats before a silhouette rose in the debris cloud followed shortly by a second. Somehow both our pokemon were still standing, although the way they teetered precariously told me that they were just barely standing.

There was a shift in the energy in the air. Suddenly the debris cloud blew apart.

There stood both Sceptile and Feraligatr, both encased in flames. The flames that flickered around Sceptile were green and tipped in white. They swirled around my pokemon as some invisible pushed them around. Feraligatr's flames were a shimmering aqua color. They danced and flowed with a fluid grace.

Overgrow.

Torrent.

Water-type and grass-type attacks were now going to be unbelievable powerful, far beyond what they had demonstrated so far. It was a sign that both pokemon were nearing the end of their strength. Only in times of desperation did these power-ups appear. There might be only moments left in this match-up.

"Hydro pump!" Dylan yelled, knowing the end was near.

"Iron tail!"

It was the one thing nobody saw coming.

All logic said I should've used leaf blade or leaf storm. That's why iron tail worked so well. Sceptile ducked low and came up fast beneath Feraligatr. It swung around and drove its glowing tail into Feraligatr at an upward angle. The big water pokemon was knocked clear off its feet. Even an element that Feraligatr was resistant to did heavy damage in its weakened state. It crashed down heavily, the stream of water it had been spitting slowly drying up.

"Feraligatr is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Sceptile is the winner!"

The emotion that I saw in Dylan's eyes reflected how I felt too. Sadness flickered over his emotions as he realized that in all probability, I was about to end his shot at winning the tournament. If felt a bit of that sadness too since I was about to crush my best friend's dreams in order to fulfill my own. There was no real way around it although I did briefly wonder if there was any way for us both to be Champion but knew that it was only a useless pipe dream.

"You haven't won yet!" Dylan announced with probably more confidence than he actually felt. "Gyarados, go!"

I left Sceptile on the field for just a moment before recalling it for Charizard. Gyarados roared at Charizard when it appeared, attempting some intimidation. Charizard roared right back, unfazed.

"Gyarados, stone edge!"

"Block it with flamethrower!"

The big stream of fire gobbled up the incoming stones and reduced them to falling clumps of magma. They splattered harmlessly to the ground.

"Now fly!" I ordered as I pointed to the sky.

The blue and orange wings snapped open to their full span. One beat lifted the pokemon off the ground and the second sent it shooting into the sky. Gyarados lunged to stop it but Charizard had a sizeable speed advantage, most likely from only being a quarter of the size of the water pokemon.

"Hydro pump!" Dylan yelled.

"Dodge and use dragon claw!"

Charizard darted around Gyarados's head, often just narrowly avoiding hydro pumps. The fire pokemon would then swoop in and slam Gyarado's head to the side with a fierce dragon claw. Dylan added aqua tail to the mix to give Charizard something else to worry about. Charizard had delivered a total of six dragon claws before an aqua tail clipped a wing to send it spiraling back down to the ground.

Dylan sensed his opportunity. "Stone edge! Finish it!"

"Flare blitz!"

The second Charizard had a foot on the ground, it began spitting flames. Pivoting around, it shot back into the sky and was quickly engulfed with fire. The flaming blur of a pokemon ripped right through the stone edge. Charizard slammed into Gyarados, bending the pokemon back at an awkward angle.

"Finish it with dragon claw!" I yelled.

Charizard rose up out of its fiery cocoon trailing red sparks. Green energy imbued its claws with power as it dove at Gyarados. Charizard drove both claws down with enough force to collapse Gyarados to the earth. The ground trembled as a quarter-ton of pokemon crashed down. Charizard slowly floated down beside Gyarados's massive head and collapsed down to one knee.

"Gyarados is unable to battle!"

My head snapped around. I hadn't even seen the ref move but there he was in the center of the field, extending a hand towards me.

"Charizard is the winner! Victory to the red trainer!"

Victory. To. The. Red. Trainer.

That was me.

I dropped to my knees and pressed the heels of my hands against my forehead in disbelief. Over the immense roar of the crowd, I could just barely hear Charizard's own roar. Leaping back up to my feet, I raced onto the field. I was nearly thrown off balance when poke balls on my belt began exploding open. Screeching to a halt, Charizard and I embraced before the rest of my pokemon tackled us.

Even those that had been defeated had found the energy to celebrate.

Raichu was in my arms practically bawling before Swampert and Heracross lifted me aloft. Steelix swooped in and scooped me up on its head. I hugged the pokemon both for its actions today as well as for dear life because holy crap was I up high. When I was back on the ground, I found Sceptile waiting. It held one clawed hand out that I took with my own and then pulled it into a one-armed hug.

Across the field, I spied Dylan. A lopsided grin adorned his face. He pointed at me and nodded. I returned the gesture and action. My friend disappeared from the field but I knew I'd find him later.

For now though, I just focused on this moment: the moment when I had actually won the Pokemon League Tournament.


	64. Epilogue

The remainder of the day was a whirlwind blur.

At some point there had been an official ceremony in which I was officially announced as the Tournament Champion. I was pretty sure I had gotten a nice trophy and plaque too. I seemed to recall my whole family being there and my mom in tears.

The really important part came after that when I had an important decision to make. The winner of the tournament was granted the opportunity to face the Elite Four, four of the most powerful trainers in the land. If they were defeated, the League Champion awaited. Defeating the League Champ would make you the new Champion and officially the most powerful trainer in the country. They would all be faced in consecutive days making it difficult but not impossible to continuously retool your team to best battle them.

When they finally asked me at the press conference afterwards, I only had two words for them: hell and yes.

Today being Sunday, I would have Monday through Wednesday to prepare although much of each morning would be taken up by media events. It was written into legal stone in the contract I signed to officially be a representative of the League that I would be done no later than two in the afternoon each day. My newly appointed agents, my dad and his corporate lawyer brother, made sure that there was nothing else I would be surprised to find.

It took only an hour for the first endorsement deal to appear. Nike wanted to engage in preliminary talks for now, with a deal guaranteed but a bigger deal available if I became League Champion. Through the grapevine I heard that Dylan had been approached by Pepsi to be a spokesman for Gatrade along with his feraligatr, which I had to admit made sense. Supposedly there were other offers coming in for me but my dad and uncle were holding most of them back for now so that I could focus.

I did have a lot on my plate now.

The cliché thing to say would be that my journey wasn't over but that it had just begun.

That's crap.

My journey was over. I had started out over a year ago as just another kid with big dreams. Now here I was, one of the youngest trainers to ever win the League Tournament. I had more than exceeded my goals. Dylan and I had only vowed to make it to the League, we had no illusions that we would make it far at all. Funny what battling a crime syndicate and helping bring a new generation of pokemon into the world will do.

So yes, that journey was done. But now I was on a new one. A journey that I had never even considered before. This was completely different than before. No more sleeping outside or carefully counting dollars. Things were changing and they were changing rapidly.

No, I definitely had a new journey now:

I was going to become Pokemon League Champion.

**END PART ONE**


	65. Final Author's Note

I'd like to thank everyone who followed along with this story, whether you've been there since the beginning or just recently found it. I appreciated all the feedback I got, both positive and negative, from both comments and PM.

As indicated in the epilogue, there will indeed be a second part to this story. It will, however, not appear for a while. While trying to finish this current story I found myself in a mighty struggle with an epic writer's block. It was a constant grind to try and just finish these last few chapters. I'm going to take some time off and hopefully find that spark that I once had that let me churn out the chapters. My hope is that the first installment of the second part will appear before the end of this year at the latest.

Just so you know, it will not contain pokemon from the sixth generation. If I decide to do a third part, then that's where they'd appear.

When the second installment does get published, I will add a chapter here so anyone that is subscribed will find out about it easily.

So thanks for reading and keep your eyes out for the next part **A New Master's Quest: The Elite Four Trials.**


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